5^mrjr 


MRS.  ANN7IE  RILEY  HALE. 


{Front  is.  RoQseveltietn  Fact  6°  Fable) 


Rooseveltian 
Fact    and   Fable 

By    Mrs.    Annie    Riley    Hale 


Illustrations  by    Will  H.   Chandlee 


BROADWAY  PUBLISHING   COMPANY 
NEW     YORK 


E757 
HI? 


Copyright.  1908. 

BY 

MRS.   ANNIE   RILEY    HALK 
All  rierhts  reserved. 


DEDICATION. 

To  the  Galleries, 
to  whom  my  hero  has  played  so  long 

and  so  successfully, 
this  little  volume  is  affectionately  dedicated. 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 

The  book  is  intended  merely  as  a  contribution  to  the 
truth  of  history,  and  is  offered  without  malice,  and 
without  apology.  Its  author  is  neither  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  apologist  nor  his  accuser, — save  as  the  Facts 
accuse  him.  She  has  no  personal  grudge  to  satisfy  in 
the  publication  of  things  derogatory,  and  no  private 
wrongs  to  avenge.  As  a  disinterested  "looker-on  here 
in  Vienna"  during  the  past  five  years,  she  has  watched 
the  progress  of  events  surrounding  the  head  of  the 
nation,  and  noted  the  utterances  falling  from  Execu 
tive  lips.  She  has  marveled  ofttimes  at  the  swift  in 
genuity  with  which  these  events  were  wrested  from 
their  original  setting,  and  given  a  wholly  different  col 
oring  from  that  they  at  first  wore ;  marvelled  likewise 
at  the  equal  celerity  with  which  other  doings  and  say 
ings  of  the  Strenuous  President  were  hustled  com 
pletely  out  of  sight,  and  the  public  mind  immediately 
occupied  with  different  matters.  Out  of  this  watching 
and  wondering  grew  the  idea  for  this  little  book. 

To  those  whose  admiration  for  Roosevelt  is  a  mat 
ter  of  conviction  rather  than  of  fore-ordination;  to 
those  who  still  have  the  courage  to  look  a  fact  in  the 
face,  and  the  honesty  to  assign  it  its  proper  place  in 
any  summing  up  of  character,  this  faithful  compila 
tion  of  Fact  and  Fable  may  appeal  with  some  force, 
and  to  that  extent  fulfill  its  modest  mission  of  shed 
ding  light  in  dark  places.  But  having  been  born  and 
reared  a  Presbyterian,  the  writer  early  learned  the 
folly  of  going  counter  to  a  fore-ordained  belief,  and 


il  PREFACE 

how  idle  and  irrelevant  is  any  evidence  in  the  court 
whose  mind  is  made  up  in  advance  of  it. 

All  this  class  of  Rooseveltian  worshippers  therefore, 
— large  or  small  as  the  case  may  be — are  hereby 
warned  against  wasting  any  valuable  time  on  these 
pages. 

It  may  be  true,  as  P.  T.  Barnum  once  observed,  that 
"the  Americans  love  to  be  humbugged," — love  it,  at 
least,  while  the  delusion  lasts. 

But  there  are  straw  indications,  here  and  there,  that 
many  of  them  are  emerging  from  the  Roosevelt  spell. 
The  time  seems  ripe  for  appealing  from  the  American 
people  drunk  to  the  American  people  sober;  and  to 
take  advantage  of  the  lull  in  the  shouting,  for  applying 
the  historic  measuring-rod  to  the  Roosevelt  dimensions. 

A.  R.  H. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   I.  PAGE 

His  Public  Beginnings I 

CHAPTER    II. 
The  San  Juan  Hill  Myth 12 

CHAPTER    III. 
"Roosevelt's  Round  Robin" 23 

CHAPTER    IV. 
"Roosevelt  Reform"  Legends 41 

CHAPTER    V. 
Court  Favorites 57 

CHAPTER   VI. 
Roosevelt,  the  Preacher 72 

CHAPTER   VII. 
Roosevelt  and  the  "Bosses" 78 

CHAPTER   VIII. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Press 86 

CHAPTER   IX. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Mothers 96 

CHAPTER   X. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Catholic  Church 118 

CHAPTER   XI. 
Roosevelt  and  the  Negro ......... 136 


ii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XII.  PAGE 

The  "Ananias  Club,"  "Undesirable  Citizens,"  and 

the  "Rich  Man's  Conspiracy" 147 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
THE   BIG   STICK 167 

CHAPTER   XIV. 
"MY  POLICIES"  I72 

CHAPTER   XV. 
Csesar  Puts  by  the  Crown 191 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE. 
CHAPTER  I.     :   - 

HIS   PUBLIC   BEGINNINGS'. 

It  is  recorded  that  when  District  Worker  "Joe" 
Murray  had  quarreled  with  his  chief,  Barney  Hess, 
and  was  casting  about  in  1881  for  a  proper  instrument 
of  revenge  upon  Hess,  he  hit  upon  Theodore  Roose 
velt  as  his  most  available  candidate  to  represent  the 
Twenty-first  District  in  the  New  York  Assembly,  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord,  1882. 

Theodore  is  described  at  that  time  as  a  thin,  pale 
stripling,  just  emerged  from  Harvard  and  European 
travel,  in  his  twenty-third  year. 

The  reason  assigned  by  the  historians  for  Murray's 
choice  of  this  untried  political  quantity  was  that  his 
Family  Name  was  one  to  conjure  with  in  the  Twenty- 
first  District,  being  a  Name  of  great  age  and  eminent 
respectability  in  that  locality.  The  adoring  Jacob  Riis 
rapturously  asserts:  "It  was  the  bluest  of  old  Knick 
erbocker  blood !"  A  less  fervid,  but  perhaps  more  ac 
curate  historian,  affirms:  "It  (the  Name)  had  been 
borne  by  five  generations  of  smug,  sleek,  thrifty  busi- 
.ness  men,  following  an  ancestor  of  homely,  sturdy 
frugality.  Though  they  had  not  been  of  great  im 
portance  in  civil  life,  aldermen  and  other  municipal 
officers  had  risen  from  their  ranks.  They  were  men 
of  substance  and  power.  A  remote  strain  of  Jewish 
blood  had  possibly  intensified  the  native  Dutch  shrewd 
ness."  Nothing  particularly  high-sounding  about  this 


2  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

lineage,  to  ears  unattuned  to  the  higher  Rooseveltian 
symphonies,  even  tho'  one  must  concede  it  is  always  a 
problem  beset  with  more  or  less  difficulty — to  deter 
mine  the  precise  quantity  and  quality  of  "blue  blood" 
in  this  Red-White-and-Blue  Republic  of  ours. 

Perhaps  "A  Member  of  the  Well-Known  Bulloch 
Family  of  Georgia"  may  save  the  day  for  T.  Roose 
velt's:;  aristocratic  pretensions, — however,  it  is  with 
more  important  things  than  the  Roosevelt  "blue  blood" 
that; this  narrative  is  concerned. 

•  Having-  been  elected  a  New  York  Assemblyman  in 
1882,  by  the  grace  of  "Joe"  Murray  and  the  accumu 
lations  of  his  thrifty  Dutch  ancestors,  our  hero  quickly 
"found  himself"  politically.  It  appears  that  at  first  he 
went  in  for  "reform,"  tho'  the  reform  program  ex 
hibits  serious  breaks  early  in  his  career.  The  above- 
quoted  historian  further  says  of  the  Name:  "Pursuit 
of  money  for  money's  sake  had  worn  its  keen  edge  to 
dullness.  Fads  of  charity  and  public  service  had 
grasped  this  good  name.  It  was  known  by  its  works 
as  well  as  by  its  thousands." 

Theodore  Senior — whose  death  occurred  in  the 
third  year  of  his  son's  college  course — had  been  active 
in  New  York's  Social  Settlement  and  Charitable  or 
ganizations.  It  was  partly  following  a  family  tradi 
tion,  therefore,  when  the  son  flashed  his  maiden  sword 
under  the  banners  of  reform.  Again,  the  political 
complexion  of  New  York  at  this  time — (and  most  all 
other  times) — made  the  reform  program  the  only 
alternative  for  a  legislative  novice  seeking  to  attract 
attention. 

A  well-known  political  writer  thus  sums  up  the  sit 
uation  :  "Tammany  Democrats  looted  the  city ;  ma 
chine  Republicans  as  regularly  looted  the  State.  Ma 
chine  Republicans  covered  up  their  own  iniquities  by 
exposing  the  city  wickedness  of  Tammany.  Tam 
many  Democrats  defended  their  plunderous  strong- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  3 

holds  by  bombarding  the  hypocrisy  and  crookedness  of 
the  up-State  hordes."  In  a  place  where  political  cor 
ruption  was  the  established  order,  in  both  the  great 
parties,  our  young  statesman  quickly  perceived  that 
the  easiest  way  to  focus  on  himself  the  wondering  gaze 
of  the  multitude,  was  to  make  a  noise  like  a  "re 
former" — and  so  he  chose  his  role.  His  aggressive 
temper,  and  the  odd  sense  of  proportion  'A  all  matters 
affecting  himself  which  hath  ever  covered  him  like  a 
garment — provoked  some  derision  in  this  first  legis 
lative  Assembly,  and  from  the  older  Republican  mem 
bers  the  gentle  admonition  to  "go  back  and  sit  down." 
Needless  to  say,  the  attractions  and  advantages  of  a 
back  seat  have  never  appealed  strongly  to  the  Roose 
velt  fancy. 

His  "strenuosity,"  as  it  became  later  known  to  the 
nation,  was  not  so  pronounced  in  those  days,  tho'  he 
early  exhibited  the  restless  energy  which  delights  in 
"stirring  things  up,"  and  an  insatiable  craving  for  the 
lime-light  which  time  hath  not  abated.  In  this  first 
year,  he  learned  the  value  of  dramatic  display,  and 
from  his  trading  ancestry  he  drew  the  full  importance 
of  liberal  advertising.  It  was  remarked  of  him  even 
then  that  he  went  out  of  his  way  to  cultivate  the  favor 
of  newspaper  men.  The  devoted  Riis  (at  that  time  on 
the  staff  of  the  New  York  Sun)  makes  an  heroic 
episode  of  the  noisy  part  his  virtuous  young  so  Ion  bore 
in  the  impeachment  of  a  federal  judge  in  this  first  ses 
sion  of  the  N.  Y.  Legislature,  tho',  it  seems,  nothing 
much  came  of  the  impeachment.  Even  Riis  admits, 
"in  the  end  the  corruptionists  escaped" — a  fate  which 
appears  to  have  pursued  the  reform  measures  of  this 
particular  reformer  throughout  his  reforming  career. 
But  as  in  this  instance,  the  faithful  Riis  took  care  of 
the  "glory"  for  his  hero,  even  so,  there  hath  ever  been 
found  an  obliging  and  clever  artist  to  paint  the  re 
former  in  letters  of  light,  with  little  or  no  attention 


4  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

paid  to  the  insubstantial  character  of  the  reform.  In 
deed,  as  much  as  possible,  the  people  are  made  to  for 
get  about  the  reform,  and  to  concentrate  their 
thoughts  upon  the  reformer.  The  reform  is  but  an 
incident — the  reformer  is  the  main  thing. 

Francis  Leupp,  Indian  Commissioner,  and  member 
of  the  "Tennis  Cabinet,"  finds  evidence  of  rare  prom 
ise  in  the  fact  that,  "while  still  a  mere  youth,  Roose 
velt  had  risen  to  the  leadership  of  the  Republican  side 
in  the  Assembly  at  Albany."  Historian  Leupp  did  not 
think  it  necessary  to  remark  in  that  same  connection, 
that  the  New  York  Assembly  in  which  Roosevelt  "rose 
to  the  leadership  of  the  Republican  side" — was  over 
whelmingly  Democratic,  having  come  in  with  the  vic 
torious  Cleveland  over  the  wreck  of  the  Republican 
machine;  and  that  so  many  of  the  veteran  Republican 
legislators  had  gone  down  to  defeat,  Roosevelt — 
whose  district  was  a  Republican  stronghold — easily 
captured  the  barren  honor  of  "minority  leader"  on  the 
floor.  The  emptiness  of  the  title,  per  se,  is  well  set 
forth  in  the  following  story:  The  nine-year-old  son 
of  John  Sharp  Williams,  Minority  Leader  in  the  Na 
tional  Congress,  was  required  by  his  teacher  in  a  pub 
lic  school  exercise,  to  write  down  the  name  of  his 
father's  vocation.  "Please,  ma'am,"  said  Kit,  hesitat 
ingly,  holding  up  his  hand  for  attention,  "he  is  leader 
of  the  minority,  but  I  don't  know  what  that  is,  nor 
how  to  spell  it.  But  I  know  he  goes  over  to  the  Capitol 
every  morning."  "Oh,  well,"  returned  the  sapient 
shooter  of  juvenile  ideas,  "just  say  he  works  at  the 
Capitol !"  When  the  incident  was  related  to  the  face 
tious  Mississippian,  he  remarked  with  grim  humor: 
"Better  50  years  a  scrub-lady  than  a  cycle  of  mock- 
sway  !" 

In  this  Democratic  Assembly  of  1883,  Roosevelt  as 
"minority  leader,"  accredited  with  reform  leanings, 
was  permitted  to  introduce  and  pass  a  primary  law 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  5 

recommended  in  Governor  Cleveland's  message,  but 
from  the  rest  of  the  Cleveland  reform  program,  he 
appears  to  have  held  aloof. 

This  is  notably  true  of  the  Civil  Service  law  which 
was  passed  by  this  Democratic  Legislature,  and  later 
appropriated  by  Mr.  Roosevelt's  biographers  as  one 
of  his  achievements.  Fact  and  Fable  are  so  sharply 
at  issue  in  the  matter  that  it  becomes  necessary  to  be 
specific. 

Stratemeyer  in  his  "American  Boy's  Life  of  Theo 
dore  Roosevelt,"  says : 

"One  of  the  greatest  services  done  by  Roosevelt  at 
that  time  (when  he  was  assemblyman)  was  the  sup 
port  given  by  him  to  a  Civil  Service  law  for  the 
State."  On  page  34  of  Leupp's  "The  Man,  Roose 
velt,"  may  be  found  the  statement:  "Mr.  Roosevelt 
who  had  been  his  (Dorman  B.  Eaton's)  enthusiastic 
colleague  in  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League,  was  author  of  the  bill  which  passed  the  New 
York  Legislature  during  Gov.  Cleveland's  administra 
tion,  about  simultaneously  with  the  Federal  Act."  Riis 
likewise  claims  the  credit  of  this  first  New  York  Civil 
Service  law  for  his  hero,  and  with  a  fine  disregard  of 
chronology,  says  this  "Roosevelt  law"  was  made  the 
model  for  the  national  law ! 

Now  for  the  Facts  in  the  case  so  grossly  and 
strangely  perverted  by  the  aforesaid  authorities.  Civil 
Service  Reform  had  been  agitated  by  such  men  as 
George  Wm.  Curtis,  Carl  Schurz,  and  Allen  Jenckes 
of  Rhode  Island,  while  Roosevelt  was  yet  in  pina 
fores — back  in  the  6o's.  Several  Presidents  had  en 
dorsed  it,  and  finally  through  the  persistent  efforts  of 
Pendleton,  Democrat,  of  Ohio,  in  Congress,  assisted 
by  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Independent,  of  New  York,  and 
backed  by  the  Curtis  crowd  and  the  Civil  Service  Re 
form  League  on  the  outside,  a  national  Civil  Service 
law  was  placed  on  the  statute  books  in  January,  1883, 


6  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

This  was  about  the  time  the  New  York  Legislature 
convened,  which  five  months  later  passed  the  first  ef 
fective  State  civil  service  law,  with  Grover  Cleveland 
in  the  governor's  chair.  Five  months  later,  yet  Riis 
says  it  furnished  the  model  for  the  Federal  law. 
Perhaps  if  the  dear,  simple-hearted  old  Dane  had  sus 
pected  how  little  his  hero  had  to  do  with  framing  or 
passing  this  law,  he  would  not  have  been  tempted  to 
play  such  havoc  with  the  dates.  So  far  from  having 
fathered  or  promoted  this  state  Civil  Service  law,  the 
records  show  that  Roosevelt  did  not  even  vote  for  it. 
Several  bills  were  introduced  (none  of  them  by  Roose 
velt),  the  one  which  finally  passed  by  a  vote  of  96  to  2 
was  introduced  by  Michael  C.  Murphy  of  New  York 
City,  and  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Affairs  of 
Cities.  There  were  about  85  Democrats  and  48  Re 
publicans  in  the  Assembly,  and  on  pp.  1338-39  of  the 
Assembly  Journal  Theodore  Roosevelt  is  recorded  "not 
voting"  on  this  bill,  tho'  if  he  was  not  present  when  the 
vote  was  taken,  he  was  shortly  before,  and  perhaps  the 
eulogists  will  explain  why  he  was  not  on  hand  to  honor 
with  his  vote  a  measure  for  which  he  was  supposed 
to  have  such  patriotic  zeal  that  they  have  marked  it  for 
his  own. 

In  1884,  the  Republican  machine  came  into  its  own 
again,  and  began  to  celebrate  its  return  to  power  by 
assaulting  the  Cleveland  Civil  Service  law.  While 
there  is  no  evidence  that  Roosevelt  openly  joined  in 
the  attack,  neither  is  there  any  proof  that  he  made 
any  strenuous  defence  of  it.  Certainly,  tho'  he  was  a 
prominent  member  of  that  Assembly,  he  could  not,  or 
did  not  prevent  its  emasculation  at  the  hands  of  its 
enemies.  Concerning  this  coy  attitude  toward  Civil 
Service  in  its  inception,  John  W.  Bennett,  in  his 
"Roosevelt  and  the  Republic,"  says : 

"In  the  civil  service  matter,  Theodore  Roosevelt's 
action  was  characteristic.  This  wise  and  discreet 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  7 

young  man  had  already  learned  not  to  pin  his  faith  to 
new  and  strange  measures  of  doubtful  and  untried 
popularity.  Let  others  do  the  pioneer  work.  The 
band-wagon  must  be  well  filled  and  tooling  along 
swimmingly  before  he  claims  a  seat,  he  then  sees  to 
it  that  the  most  conspicuous  place  is  accorded  him. 
Our  discreet  young  solon — as  in  after  life — was  im 
pulsive  only  on  the  surface.  Impulsiveness  with  him 
was  a  stage  business,  used  only  for  dramatic  and  ad 
vertising  purposes.  Under  the  skin,  Theodore 
Roosevelt  was  wary  as  a  wood-lynx.  .  .  .  Time 
would  tell  how  the  crowd  would  take  this  Cleveland 
measure,  supported  by  impossible  Tammany  men.  If 
popular,  there  would  be  plenty  of  time  to  use  it  in 
one's  business;  if  it  proved  a  fiasco,  the  Tammany 
shoulders  were  broad  and  strong — Roosevelt's  skirts 
were  clean." 

We  next  find  our  hero,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six, 
figuring  in  national  politics.  He  was  made  chairman 
of  the  New  York  delegation  to  the  National  Conven 
tion  of  1884  which  cast  its  vote  for  Senator  Edmunds, 
leader  of  the  Reform  forces  in  the  State. 

Blaine,  "the  Plumed  Knight"  of  brilliant  parts  and 
besmirched  reputation,  was  everywhere  supported  by 
machine  Republicans,  and  the  allied  forces  of  corrup 
tion.  He  was  hostile  to  everything  which  savored  of 
reform, — civil  service,  tariff  revision,  and  clean  poli 
tics.  In  addition,  the  Mulligan  and  Fisher  letters  had 
unearthed  a  black  scandal  connected  with  his  name, 
convicting  him  of  using  his  office  of  Speaker  for  pri 
vate  gain — a  scandal  which  not  even  his  dazzling  and 
magnetic  personal  qualities  could  wholly  offset.  The 
Reformers  would  have  none  of  him,  and  Roosevelt, 
Curtis  and  Company  fought  him  valiantly  in  caucus 
and  in  convention.  But  Blaine  secured  the  nomina 
tion  of  his  party,  despite  the  Reform  contingent,  and 


8  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

flung-  down  the  gauntlet  to  Grover  Cleveland  and  the 
"unterrified  Democracy." 

Hundreds  of  Independent  Republicans  abandoned 
their  party  to  its  fate,  and  gave  their  votes  to  the  Dem 
ocratic  candidate  who  brought  into  the  contest  a  rec 
ord  for  official  efficiency  and  clean  politics. 

And  what  of  Theodore  Roosevelt  in  this  crisis?  The 
Cleveland  program  was  the  Roosevelt  program,  as 
Roosevelt  himself  had  noisily  proclaimed  it  from  his 
seat  among  the  Reformers.  Surely,  for  this  earnest, 
insistent  young  "reformer,"  of  lofty  ideals  and  clam 
orous  honesty,  there  could  be  but  one  choice  between 
these  two.  Nay,  gentle  reader,  be  not  o'erhasty  in 
judging  the  actions  of  the  great.  Theodore  Roose 
velt  bade  adieu  to  his  Reform  associates  without  a 
tremor,  and  cheerily  took  his  stand  under  the  soiled 
banner  of  "the  Plumed  Knight." 

This  crucial  test  applied  at  the  outset  of  his  politi 
cal  career,  demonstrated  that  which  has  had  frequent 
demonstration  since,  that,  above  everything  else,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  is  a  partizan.  And  one  may  be  a  partizan, 
and  be  a  good  man,  so  far  as  honesty  goes.  Or  one 
may  be  a  civic  reformer,  if  he  prefers  that  role,  tho' 
this  is  more  difficult.  But  one  must  make  a  choice — 
the  two  are  absolutely  incompatible. 

It  were  as  easy  to  serve  God  and  Mammon. 

Roosevelt  is  accredited  somewhere  with  the  pious 
formula,  that  "sometimes  a  man  must  sacrifice  party 
allegiance  to  the  public  weal,"  or  words  to  that  effect ; 
but  he  is  extremely  fortunate  in  never  having  encoun 
tered  this  painful  necessity  in  his  own  experience.  The 
closest  inspection  of  his  political  record  throughout, 
fails  to  discover  a.  single  instance  wherein  he  permitted 
party  action  to  separate  him  for  ever  so  short  a  time 
from  the  Republican  fold.  Even  Historian  Leupp 
makes  the  surprising  statement:  "Born  with  the  men 
tal  and  moral  equipment  of  an  independent,  he  has 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  9 

made  of  himself,  by  unremitting  endeavor,  a  pretty 
good  partisan."  How  fortunate  is  Mr.  Roosevelt 
again  in  having  a  discerning  biographer  to  wreathe  his 
partizanry  with  the  halo  of  self-sacrifice! 

In  that  third  session  of  the  New  York  Assembly  of 
which  Roosevelt  was  a  prominent  member,  a  measure 
came  up  which  was  vital  to  good  government.  This 
was  a  constitutional  Amendment  for  municipal  home 
rule,  whose  effect  was  to  exempt  the  city's  affairs  from 
interference  or  control  by  the  State  government  at 
Albany — a  prolific  source  of  corruption  and  misrule. 
This  Amendment  would  have  done  more  than  any 
thing  else  to  secure  the  municipal  reforms  for  which 
Roosevelt  had  put  forth  such  noisy  advocacy.  At  the 
critical  moment,  when  its  friends  were  pressing  it  to  a 
vote,  Roosevelt  suddenly  became  solicitous  about  the 
legal  form  of  it,  and  defeated  it  by  springing  upon  it 
the  time-honored  device  of  legislative  crooks,  of  refer 
ring  it  to  the  Judiciary  Committee. 

It  was  never  heard  of  more. 

As  assemblyman,  Roosevelt  also  got  through  a  "re 
form"  measure,  taking  away  from  aldermen  the  power 
of  confirming  mayoralty  appointments. 

New  York  mayors  were  sometimes  Republican,  the 
Board  of  Aldermen  was  nearly  always  Democratic. 
As  this  law  would  prevent  a  virtuous  Republican 
mayor  from  being  handicapped  in  his  appointments  by 
corrupt  Democratic  aldermen,  it  was  of  course,  in  the 
interests  of  "good  government"  Once  establish  the 
doctrine  that  all  good  was  practically  resident  in  the 
Republican  party;  that  no  evil  was  so  much  to  be 
dreaded  for  the  State  or  the  city  as  Democratic  control, 
and  Jhe  path  was  made  smooth  for  our  "reformer's" 
feet.  David  Harum's  liberal  dictum,  that  "one  man 
has  as  much  human  nature  as  another — if  not  more," 
has  no  place  in  the  Roosevelt  reform  creed. 

Panegryist  Riis  gives  us  this  explanation  of  Roose- 


10        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

velt's  choice  of  a  political  career,  warm  from  his 
hero's  lips:  "I  suppose,  for  one  thing,  plain,  every 
day  duty  sent  me  there  to  begin  with.  But  more  than 
that,  I  wanted  to  belong  to  the  governing  class,  not  to 
the  governed" — concerning  which,  an  unfeeling  critic 
makes  the  cynical  observation,  "It  could  never  occur 
to  him,  that  the  two  might  be  the  same." 

But  taking  his  motive  at  his  own  appraisement,  let 
us  see,  as  this  narrative  proceeds,  whether  the  "plain 
duty"  or  the  "governing"  instinct  ran  ahead  in  the 
race. 

Yet  whatever  harsh  verdict  the  Facts  may  bring  in 
at  the  close  of  the  Roosevelt  trial,  it  will  be  modified 
in  every  charitable  mind  by  a  perusal  of  the  worship 
ful  biographies  of  Messrs.  Leupp  and  Riis. 

Scant  admiration  goes  to  the  fulsome  adulation  of 
a  President,  with  patronage  to  dispense;  or  to  the 
fawning  that  goeth  before  thrift;  but  real  genuine 
affection,  wherever  bestowed,  should  command  not 
only  respect  but  sympathy.  Especially  does  this  apply 
to  the  dog-like  devotion  of  Jacob  Riis,  the  simple- 
.  hearted,  simple-minded  old  Dane,  whose  love  for  his 
\chief  is  as  sincere  as  his  judgment  of  him  is  awry.  It 
is  worthy  of  note  also,  that  Mr.  Riis  has  never  accepted 
any  of  the  "spoils  of  office"  in  liquidation  of  his  hero- 
worship  debt. 

One  can  but  feel,  however,  that  this  epic-hymning 
pair  would  have  made  out  a  stronger  case  for  their 
"arma  virumque,"  had  not  their  enthusiasm  betrayed 
them  into  reproducing  upon  their  luminous  pages  a 
youthful  portrait  of  "Theodore  Roosevelt  at  twenty- 
four,"  which  is  well,  to  say  the  least  of  it — disquieting. 
It  suggests  the  villain  in  the  play  "being  good"  for  a 
season;  or,  more  aptly,  the  melodramatic  hero  of  a 
mining  camp,  who  has  come  to  church,  it  is  true,  but 
whether  to  join  with  the  worshippers,  or  raise  a  row 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  II 

on  the  back  seat,  is  a  question  not  to  be  settled  at  a 
glance. 

However  the  students  of  history  and  psychology 
may  agree  in  the  future,  that  the  devices  which 
brought  Theodore  Roosevelt  into  the  "governing 
class"  were  not  such  as  to  develop  the  man's  better 
nature,  that  he  had  a  better  nature,  no  one  will  doubt 
who  reads  the  idyllic  odes  to  Roosevelt,  penned  by 
Jacob  Riis.  We  are  ready  to  believe  that  "Teddy" 
may  have  had  something  "really  good  and  sweet"  in 
his  early  make-up, — albeit  the  look  of  that  young 
photograph  is  disconcerting. 

Its  friends  should  suppress  it. 


12  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  SAN  JUAN  HILL  MYTH. 

"It  was  on  his  war  record  that  he  made  his  cam 
paign  for  the  governorship  of  New  York." 

This,  being  quoted  from  Historian  Leupp,  must  be 
authoritative. 

An  irreverent  critic  has  dubbed  Leupp's  book  "a 
Campaign  Life  of  Roosevelt,"  it  having  appeared 
simultaneously  (in  January)  with  the  campaign  year 
of  1904. 

Perhaps  as  the  "war  record"  had  done  such  valiant 
and  successful  campaign  service  in  New  York  in  1898, 
it  was  still  counted  on  to  fire  a  few  shots  in  the  Presi 
dential  fight  of  1904.  A  war  record  which  has  made 
so  many  drafts  on  the  nation's  gratitude,  should  be 
something  out  of  the  ordinary,  and  may  be  worth  in 
vestigating. 

In  the  winter  of  1897-98  prior  to  the  Spanish- Amer 
ican  blaze,  Roosevelt  (according  to  the  biographers) 
made  the  acquaintance  of  one  Leonard  Wood,  an  army 
surgeon,  who  was  immediately  engaged  as  military 
coach  for  the  future  commander  of  the  "Rough 
Riders." 

Wood  had  also  been  McKinley's  family  physician 
when  McKinley  was  a  congressman,  and  now  stood  in 
high  favor  with  the  President. 

As  both  Wood  and  Roosevelt  were  spoiling  for  a 
fight,  it  was  speedily  arranged  with  President  McKin- 
le*y  that  Wood  should  be  made  Colonel,  and  Roosevelt 
Lieutenant-colonel  of  a  regiment  which  Roosevelt 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE  13 

had  decided  should  be  called  "the  Rough  Riders." 
From  Historian  Leupp  we  get  the  information  that 
"the  idea  of  the  Rough  Rider  regiment  was  Roose 
velt's  own."  There  is  a  tradition  (found  in  encyclo 
paedias)  that  the  original  "Rough  Riders"  were  a 
class  of  couriers  employed  on  the  Western  frontiers  in 
1859,  before  the  days  of  the  "pony  express,"  and 
Colonel  Wm.  F.  Cody— "Buffalo  Bill"— had  made 
them  a  feature  of  'his  "Wild  Western  Show." 

How  entirely  natural,  how  perfectly  in  keeping  with 
everything  bearing  the  stamp  of  Rooseveltian  activity 
before  and  since,  that  when  our  nascent  "war-lord" 
came  to  choose  his  fighting  men,  he  should  find  the 
regimentals  best  suited  to  his  fancy  under  a  circus  tent ! 

So  many  "ideas"  and  "policies"  have  been  attributed 
to  Mr.  Roosevelt  which  rightfully  belonged  elsewhere, 
that  it  is  positively  refreshing  to  encounter  one  Roose 
veltian  idea  whose  authorship  is  beyond  dispute. 

The  "Rough  Riders"  had  been  riding,  while  Roose 
velt  was  yet  in  swaddling  clothes,  but  the  idea  of  deck 
ing  out  a  regiment  of  soldiers  in  their  picturesque 
garb  was — as  Mr.  Leupp  claims  for  him — "all  his 
own." 

After  some  drilling  and  parading  on  American  soil, 
bv  way  of  getting  the  spectacular  brigade  well  into  the 
public  eye,  we  find  the  gallant  Rough  Riders  "drawing 
first  blood"  in  Cuba,  at  the  ill-considered  and  prema 
turely  fought  battle  of  Las  Guasimas.  As  has  been 
so  often  recounted,  the  Rough  Riders  under  Wood 
and  Roosevelt  ran  into  an  ambush  on  this  occasion — 
Spaniards  hidden  in  an  old  cemetery  between  the 
creek  and  the  road — from  which  they  were  narrowly 
rescued  by  the  timely  arrival  of  the  Negro  troops,  this 
last  having  furnished  the  text  for  much  reproachful 
oratory  since  the  Brownsville  affair. 

As  it  was,  68  brave  fellows  went  down  before  the 
unseen  fire,  16  of  them  to  rise  no  more.  Among  the 

I 


14  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND   FABLfi 

slain  was  the  gallant  Captain  Allyn  Capron,  who  had 
done  more  than  anyone  else  to  increase  the  efficiency 
of  the  Rough  Rider  brigade.  Reliable  military  his 
torians  relate  that  General  Wheeler,  who  commanded 
the  cavalry,  had  weakly  yielded  to  the  importunities  of 
"the  ardent  young  Roosevelt  and  others"  in  giving  the 
order  for  this  attack,  or  "reconnaissance";  thereby 
violating  his  own  order  from  the  superior  officer  to 
wait  for  General  Lawton  with  the  infantry. 

And  that  "rough  old  General  Lawton,"  coming  up 
and  seeing  the  blunder,  "said  some  unpleasant  things" 
— bluntly  charging  the  blood  of  Captain  Capron  and 
the  slain  troopers  upon  this  unauthorized  haste. 

Roosevelt  received  his  first  baptism  of  fire  and  blood 
at  Las  Guasimas,  and  having  accomplished  his  pur 
pose  of  securing  for  the  "Rough  Riders"  the  credit  of 
having  "started  things  in  Cuba,"  it  is  not  to  be  sup 
posed  he  allowed  the  casualties  of  war  to  disturb  his 
complacent  reflections.  There  was  more  "glory" 
ahead.  Panegyrist  Riis  says : 

"All  the  way  up,  it  (the  Rough  Rider  regiment) 
had  been  the  vanguard.  ...  10  days  of  marching 
and  fighting  in  the  bush  culminated  in  the  storming  of 
the  San  Juan  hills,  with  Colonel  Roosevelt  in  full  com 
mand,  Colonel  Wood  having  been  deservedly  promoted 
after  Las  Guasimas !" 

The  piece-de-resistance  of  all  the  Rough  Rider  ex 
ploits, — as  it  exists  in  the  popular  fancy — was  the  as 
sault  on  the  Spanish  entrenchments  on  top  of  San 
Juan  Hill.  This  has  been  "sung  in  song  and  story" 
until  it  ranks  in  the  annals  of  military  glory  with 
Pickett's  charge  up  the  Gettysburg  Heights.  It  is  a 
thankless  task  to  show  that,  as  a  Rough  Rider  achieve 
ment,  it  more  properly  finds  a  place  among  Baron 
Munchausen's  Tales,  or  in  some  standard  work  on 
mythology, — yet  such  is  the  merciless  showing  of  the 
Facts.  Let  us  first  note  the  heroic  Fable.  The  New 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  1 5 

York  Sun  of  date,  July  4,  1898,  published  the  follow 
ing  vivid  account  of  the  San  Juan  charge :  "When 
they  came  to  the  open,  smooth  hillside,  there  was  no 
protection.  Bullets  were  raining  down  at  them,  and 
shot  and  shells  from  the  batteries  were  sweeping 
everything. 

"There  was  a  moment's  hesitation,  and  then  came 
the  order :  Forward,  charge !  Colonel  Roosevelt  led, 
waving  his  sword.  Out  into  the  open  the  men  went 
and  up  the  hill.  Death  to  every  man  seemed  certain. 
The  crackle  of  the  Mauser  rifles  was  continuous.  Out 
of  the  brush  came  the  Riders.  Up,  up  they  went,  with 
the  colored  troops  alongside  of  them,  not  a  man  flinch 
ing,  and  forming  as  they  ran.  Roosevelt  was  a  hun 
dred  feet  in  the  lead.  Up,  up  they  went,  in  the  face 
of  death,  men  dropping  from  the  ranks  at  every  step. 
The  Rough  Riders  acted  like  veterans.  It  was  an  in 
spiring  sight  and  an  awful  one.  .  .  .  The  more 
Spaniards  were  killed,  the  more  seemed  to  take  their 
places.  The  rain  of  shells  and  bullets  doubled.  Men 
dropped  faster  and  faster,  but  others  took  their  places. 
.  .  .  Roosevelt  sat  erect  on  his  horse  (all  authorities 
now  agree  there  was  not  a  horse  in  the  fight),  holding 
his  sword,  and  shouting  for  his  men  to  follow  him. 
Finally,  his  horse  was  shot  from  under  him,  but  he 
landed  on  his  feet,  and  continued  calling  for  his  men 
to  advance.  .  .  . 

"He  charged  up  the  hill  afoot.  It  seemed  an  age  to 
the  men  who  were  watching,  and  to  the  Rough  Riders 
the  hill  must  have  seemed  miles  high.  But  they  were 
undaunted.  They  went  on,  firing  as  fast  as  their  guns 
would  work.  At  last  the  top  of  the  Hill  was  reached. 
The  Spaniards  in  the  trenches  could  still  have  anni 
hilated  the  Americans,  but  the  Yankee  daring  dazed 
them.  They  wavered  for  an  instant,  and  then  turned 
and  ran. 

"The  position  was  won,  and  the  block-house  cap- 


l6  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

tured.     In  the  rush,  more  than  half  of  the  Rough 
Riders  were  wounded."     .  .  . 

This  vivid,  glowing  picture,  with  Roosevelt  on 
horseback  as  the  central  figure,  was  copied  in  the 
press  throughout  the  country,  and  the  Russian  mili 
tary  painter,  Vereschagin,  was  inveigled  into  commit 
ting  the  salient  details  to  canvas.  Riis  declares  with 
ecstatic  fervor,  that  "it  will  live  forever  in  the  Ameri 
can  mind,"  and  cause  a  thrill  in  the  American  heart, 
unequalled  by  any  other  vibration  before  or  since. 

It  really  seems  nothing  short  of  sacrilege  to  mar 
this  heroic  picture  in  any  of  its  inspiring  details.  Yet 
the  clear,  cold  light  of  history,  unmindful  of  the  pangs 
of  the  hero-worshippers,  has  been  steadily  turned  on 
this  glowing  battle  scene,  with  the  cruel  result  (to  the 
worshippers)  of  completely  eliminating  the  central 
heroic  figure — horse  and  all ! 

The  first  to  turn  on  the  disillusioning  stream  was 
Senator  Alger  in  his  "Spanish-American  War,"  pub 
lished  in  1901. 

On  page  164  of  Alger's  History,  we  read:  "A  part 
of  the  cavalry  division  which  first  attacked  Kettle 
Hill,  did  not  advance  on  San  Juan  Ridge  at  the  time  of 
the  assault  by  Kent's  infantry  division.  The  1st  Vol 
unteer  Cavalry,  under  'Colonel  Roosevelt,  as  well  as 
parts  of  the  Regular  regiments  which  captured  Kettle 
Hill,  did  not  join  the  infantry  in  its  charge  on  San 
Juan  block-house  and  that  portion  of  San  Juan  Ridge 
to  the  left  of  Santiago  Road,  commonly  known  as 
San  Juan  Hill" 

The  "Kettle  Hill"  here  referred  to,  was  a  low,  steep 
knoll,  surmounted  by  a  farm  house  and  some  huge  iron 
caldrons — whence  its  name — to  the  right  of  San  Juan 
Ridge  whereon  were  the  main  Spanish  entrench 
ments,  and  separated  from  them  by  an  open,  grass- 
covered  glade,  a  third  of  a  mile  wide.  "Kettle  Hill" 
therefore  presented  the  first  obstacle  to  the  American 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  17 

advance,  and  was  held  by  a  skirmish  line  of  Spaniards, 
who  quickly  gave  way  before  the  attacking  force,  con 
sisting  (according  to  Alger,  p.  157)  of  "one  squadron 
of  the  ist  Cavalry,  the  Qth  Cavalry  (colored),  and  the 
ist  Volunteer  Cavalry  (under  Colonel  Roosevelt),  who 
all  charged  together  over  the  crest." 

And  here,  according  to  the  best  authorities,  the  gal 
lant  Rough  Riders  rested  on  their  laurels.  Having 
easily  dislodged  the  Spaniards  from  this  unimportant 
and  slightly  defended  hillock,  they  calmly  watched 
their  comrades,  the  Infantry  division  led  by  Hawkins 
and  Kent,  storm  and  capture  the  main  Spanish  posi 
tion  on  top  of  San  Juan  Hill. 

Historian  Alger — who  was  Secretary-of-War  Alger 
when  this  history  was  in  the  making — very  cleverly 
makes  Historian  Roosevelt  himself  corroborate  his  ac 
count  of  the  disposition  of  the  troops  in  this  battle,  by 
citing  an  isolated  paragraph  from  the  "Rough  Riders," 
pp.  134-136:  "No  sooner  were  we  on  the  crest  of  Ket 
tle  Hill  than  the  Spaniards  from  their  line  in  our  front, 
where  they  were  strongly  entrenched,  opened  fire  upon 
us. with  their  rifles  and  two  pieces  of  artillery.  .  .  . 
On  the  top  of  the  hill  was  a  huge  iron  kettle,  probably 
used  for  sugar  refining.  Several  of  our  men  took  shel 
ter  behind  this.  We  had  a  splendid  view  of  the  charge 
on  San  Juan  block-house  to  our  left  and  a  third  of  a 
mile  to  the  front,  where  the  Infantry  of  Kent,  led  by 
Hawkins,  were  climbing  the  Hill."  .  .  . 

The  average  reader  will  wonder  how  he  missed  this 
tell-tale  paragraph  in  Colonel  Roosevelt's  book,  which 
somehow  or  other  conveys  such  an  impression  of 
Rough  Rider  valor  and  omnipresent  activity,  that  one 
forgets  all  other  participants  in  the  war,  and  agrees 
with  Mr.  Dooley  that  the  book  should  have  been 
named  "Alone  in  Cuba."  Surely  Historian  Alger  has 
made  a  mistake.  We  turn  to  the  indicated  page  in 
credulously.  No,  there  it  is  as  quoted,  securely  sand- 


1 8  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

wiched  between  Rough  Rider  acts  fore  and  aft  in  the 
rapidly  moving  picture — paeans  to  right  of  it,  paeans  to 
left  of  it.  Yet  obscured  as  it  is  by  the  more  important 
business  (in  the  mind  of  the  author)  of  glorifying  the 
Rough  Riders,  and  completely  lost  as  it  has  been  in  all 
the  shouting  evoked  by  the  publication  of  the  myth; 
here  is  the  statement  in  plain  black  and  white  from 
their  gallant  commander  himself,  that,  instead  of  lead 
ing  the  charge  on  the  San  Juan  block-house,  the  dash 
ing  troopers  (including  their  commander)  viewed  it 
from  behind  the  sugar  kettle  a  third  of  a  mile  away ! 

We  never  could  have  believed  it  upon  any  other 
authority,  though  other  authorities  are  not  lacking. 
The  military  reports  of  General  J.  Ford  Kent,  of  Cap 
tains  A.  C.  Markley,  Henry  Wygant  and  Charles 
Dodge  of  the  24th  Infantry,  all  of  whom  took  part  in 
the  San  Juan  Hill  charge,  make  no  mention  of  Colonel 
Roosevelt  or  the  Rough  Riders.  Captain  Herbert  H. 
Sargent's  book  on  the  Santiago  campaign,  and  General 
Shafter's  (Commanding  General)  Report  in  1898,  es 
tablish  the  fact  that  Las  Guasimas  was  a  cavalry  fight, 
but  that  the  victory  at  San  Juan  was  due  primarily  to 
the  Infantry. 

Moreover  the  Cavalry  division  was  only  one-sixth 
of  the  strength  of  the  corps  actively  engaged  before 
Santiago  on  this  July  1st,  and  the  Rough  Riders  made 
up  but  one-fifth  or  less  of  the  Cavalry.  So  that  the 
whole  Rough  Rider  organization  counted  not  more 
than  one-thirtieth  in  the  fight,  and  their  commander — 
directing  only  about  500  men  out  of  16,000 — could  not 
have  had  any  great  influence  upon  the  result. 

Commenting  on  Roosevelt's  statement  that,  at  a  cer 
tain  stage  of  the  battle  he  "found  himself  at  the  front, 
in  command  of  fragments  of  all  six  regiments  of  the 
Cavalry  division,"  John  W.  Bennett  asks :  "What  had 
become  of  Wheeler,  Sumner  and  Wood?  not  to  speak 
of  the  other  brigade  and  regimental  officers,  many  of 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  IQ 

whom,  down  to  lieutenant-colonel,  must  have  out 
ranked  Roosevelt?  Did  they  all  think  themselves  in 
command  of  all  six  regiments?  Participants  in  a  bat 
tle  rarely  get  the  true  historic  perspective,  or  properly 
fauge  their  own  or  the  part  borne  by  others  in  the 
ght.  Disinterested  civilians  like  Bonsai  say  the  In 
fantry  took  the  Hill  and  the  Cavalry  came  afterward. 
This  seems  to  be  the  Fact." 

It  long  ago  became  apparent  to  the  country,  that 
there  was  not  enough  glory  in  that  Spanish-American 
imbroglio  to  "go  around." 

Barring  the  Sampson-Schley  controversy,  and  the 
Dewey  Parade,  most  of  the  participants — even  includ 
ing  Richmond  Pearson  Hobson — have  tacitly  agreed 
that  it  served  its  highest  mission  in  furnishing  a  con 
venient  stage  setting  for  the  Rough  Rider  star  actor, — 
and  to  let  it  go  at  that.  By  the  time  the  5th  Army 
Corps  were  mustered  out  on  Long  Island  in  the  sum 
mer  of  1898,  Theodore  Roosevelt,  commander  of  500 
men  in  an  army  of  16,000,  loomed  bigger  than  every 
living  soldier  in  the  Republic ! 

Such  things  are  incredible,  and  inexplicable  to  the 
understanding  of  the  ordinary  individual,  but  it  is  all 
clear  as  day  in  the  mind  of  the  press  agent. 

The  New  York  Sun  of  date  June  28,  1908,  under  an 
editorial  caption,  "Once  More  the  Old  Fiction,"  calls 
attention  to  the  recurring  persistence  of  this  San  Juan 
Hill  fable  every  time  a  Rough  Rider  dies  (or  gets 
himself  arrested  for  disorderly  conduct),  citing  a  case 
in  point — an  obituary  sketch  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Augur  of  the  24th  Infantry  who  died  at  Fort  Thomas, 
Ky.,  on  June  25th — and  concludes  by  severely  holding 
Roosevelt  responsible  for  the  wide  circulation  of  the 
misleading  picture,  and  calls  on  him  to  "either  suppress 
the  picture,  or  courageously  change  the  mendacious 
title." 

In  view  of  its  present  attitude,  it  must  make  the  Sun 


2O  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

mighty  mad  to  remember  (or  does  the  Sun  remem 
ber?)  that  this  "mendacious"  picture  of  the  Rough 
Rider  charge  appeared  in  large  type  on  its  own  front 
page  on  the  morning  of  July  4,  1898.  Ten  short  years 
make  a  wonderful  difference  in  the  point-of-view  some 
times,  but  the  Sun  may  take  comfort  in  the  thought 
that  it  is  not  the  first  or  only  great  dispenser  of  truth 
who  has  been  too  hasty  in  enlightening  the  world. 

Moreover,  as  appears  from  Mr.  Roosevelt's  own  ac 
count  of  the  San  Juan  battle,  he  did  not  claim  to  have 
led  the  charge  on  the  block-house,  but  distinctly  states 
that  he  "viewed"  it  from  the  crest  of  "Kettle  Hill"; 
and  as  probably  for  one  person  who  read  the  book,  a 
thousand  read  the  newspaper  story,  perhaps  the  Sun's 
responsibility  for  the  wide  circulation  of  the  menda 
cious  account,  is  greater  than  Mr.  Roosevelt's. 

True,  the  book  ("The  Rough  Riders")  did  not  ap 
pear  until  1900,  after  Mr.  Roosevelt  had  been  safely 
elected  Governor  of  New  York — "on  his  war  record," 
according  to  Leupp — and  was  on  his  unconscious  way 
to  the  White  House.  True  also,  that  there  is  nowhere 
any  mention  of  Roosevelt's  having  "courageously"  de 
nied  this  "mendacious"  newspaper  account  during  the 
gubernatorial  campaign  which  was  "made  on  it," 
soothing  his  conscience  no  doubt  with  the  mental  res 
ervation  that  he  had  at  least  told  the  truth  in  his  book. 
As  further  experience  of  the  Roosevelt  conscience,  re 
veals  occasions  wherein  it  was  appeased  on  much  slen 
derer  grounds,  there  is  no  special  reason  for  carping  in 
th'is  instance. 

After  all,  why  should  the  Sun  or  any  other  ill-na 
tured  stickler  for  accuracy  be  raising  a  rumpus  now 
about  the  Facts  in  this  bit  of  Spanish- American  his 
tory,  when  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  been  enjoying  the  sub 
stantial  benefits  of  the  popular  fiction  for  ten  years? 

Certainly,  it  is  not  with  any  thought  of  undoing 
what  has  been  done,  or  of  depriving  Mr.  Roosevelt  of 


FORT  MYER. 


"PERHAPS,   LIKE   RIIS,   HE  HAD  LEARNED  TO 
LOVE  THE  PICTURE." 

{Fating  page  ?l.—Roosc-c_cltian  Fact  &  Fable. \ 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  21 

the  fruit  of  his  toil.  It  is  only  interesting  as  a  striking 
instance  of  the  curious  and  ingenious  fashion  in  which 
Fable  has  donned  the  garb  of  truth  to  serve  the  needs 
of  Roosevelt,  and  as  throwing  considerable  light  on 
Rc'oseveltian  methods  early  in  his  career. 

In  1902,  Mr.  Roosevelt  being  President,  Verescha- 
gin,  the  famous  Russian  painter  of  war  scenes,  came  to 
Washington,  and  taking  up  his  abode  at  Fort  Meyer, 
began  his  now  celebrated  painting  of  the  San  Juan 
Hill  Charge.  By  whose  order,  or  upon  whose  initia 
tive,  this  was  done,  no  one  now  living  in  Washington 
appears  to  have  any  knowledge.  There  are  residents 
who  "remember  that  an  effort  was  made  to  induce  the 
Government  to  buy  the  picture,"  but  by  whom  this 
effort  was  made  no  one  will  undertake  to  affirm.  Cer 
tain  old  newspaper  correspondents  of  Washington  re 
member  vaguely  seeing  the  painting  "while  it  was  on 
exhibition  at  the  White  House,"  but  the  White  House 
ushers  are  all  afflicted  with  confusing  recollections. 
"It  may  have  been  there,  or  it  may  not,"  is  the  baffling 
reply  to  all  queries.  Inquiry  of  Wm.  Loeb,  Jr.,  as  to 
"when  this  picture  was  at  the  White  House?"  elicited 
the  illuminating  response,  that  he  "has  no  idea  where 
the  picture  is  now,  nor  whether  any  copies  of  it  are 
extant  in  Washington."  Diligent  search  in  various 
quarters  has  failed  to  discover  any  "copies"  of  the 
painting  in  Washington. 

From  a  Fort  Meyer  employee,  the  writer  learned 
that  the  picture  was  sent  to  New  York,  after  Verescha- 
gin's  death  in  1904,  and  sold  for  $10,000.  This  Ft. 
Meyer  employee,  who  was  on  the  spot  when  the  paint 
ing  was  being  executed,  further  vouchsafed  the  infor 
mation,  that  the  work  was  done  mostly  "under  cover/' 
the  artist  not  inviting  public  inspection;  that  he  (the 
Ft.  Meyer  attache)  had  seen  it  only  once,  and  was 
struck  with  the  equestrian  figure  of  the  President  in 
the  center;  that  the  President  came  several  times  to 


22  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

Fort  Meyer  during  the  progress  of  the  painting  and 
was  in  consultation  with  the  artist. 

Perhaps  by  this  time  the  President  had  forgotten 
the  details  of  the  battle  which  he  had  put  into  his 
"Rough  Rider"  annals;  perhaps  familiarity  with  the 
sight  of  that  horse-back  figure  in  the  thick  of  the  fray, 
had  convinced  him  of  its  truth;  perhaps,  like  Riis,  he 
had  learned  to  "love  the  picture,"  and  as  we  have 
learned  by  this  time,  the  President  is  notoriously 
"short  of  memory."  The  artist,  Vereschagin,  might 
have  unfolded  a  tale  to  set  all  doubts  at  rest,  but  he 
did  not  tarry  long  in  this  country,  after  finishing  this 
masterpiece,  and  thereafter  very  prudently  got  himself 
drowned  on  board  a  Russian  battleship  at  the  siege  of 
Port  Arthur,  thereby  escaping  likely  membership  in 
the  "Ananias  Club." 

This  San  Juan  Hill  picture,  in  what  it  represents, 
and  taken  in  connection  with  Historian  Leupp's  state 
ment  that  it  secured  the  governorship  of  New  York,  is 
a  conspicuous  and  fitting  illustration  of  the  sort  of 
foundation  on  which  was  reared  this  fair  structure  of 
Rooseveltian  greatness  and  fame. 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  23 


CHAPTER   III. 
"ROOSEVELT'S  ROUND  ROBIN." 

The  dictionary  definition  of  "round  robin"  is:  "A 
petition  or  manifesto  signed  by  a  number  of  persons, 
the  signatures  being  inscribed  in  a  circle,  so  that  no 
one  should  have  precedence  of  the  others";  but  who 
ever  imagines  Colonel  Roosevelt  taking  part  in  any 
business  where  "no  one  is  to  have  precedence  of  the 
others,"  does  not  know  the  man.  This  is  entirely  op 
posed  to  the  Rooseveltian  scheme  of  things. 

There  came  a  time,  it  is  true,  when  he  was  none  too 
eager  to  have  the  authorship  of  the  Cuban  Round 
Robin  ascribed  to  him,  but  at  the  time  of  the  promul 
gation  of  that  historic  paper,  he  took  some  pains,  as 
this  chapter  will  show,  to  have  it  associated  with  his 
name,  and  to  appropriate  all  the  credit  for  the  good 
results  claimed  for  it. 

Biographer  Riis  calls  it  "Roosevelt's  Round  Robin" 
in  his  "Roosevelt,  the  Citizen,"  and  Riis  should  be 
good  authority  on  this  point.  His  testimony  is  rein 
forced  by  the  New  York  Tribune  and  New  York  Sun 
of  date  August  5,  1898,  both  good  Roosevelt  wit 
nesses  at  that  time.  The  Tribune  published  a  dis 
patch  from  Santiago  de  Cuba,  date  August  3rd,  to 
the  effect  that  Major-General  Shafter  had  summoned 
all  the  commanding  and  medical  officers  of  the  5th 
Army  Corps  to  a  conference,  resulting  in  the  framing 
and  sending  of  the  famous  Round  Robin  to  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  at  Washington. 

The  Tribune  further  states:   "As  an  explanation  of 


24  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

the  situation,  the  following  letter  from  Colonel  Roose 
velt  to  General  Shafter  was  handed  by  the  latter  to  a 
correspondent  of  the  Associated  Press  for  publica 
tion." 

Then  follows  the  "Colonel  Roosevelt  letter": 
"Major-General  Shafter,  Sir:  "In  a  meeting  of  the 
general  and  medical  officers  called  by  you  at  the  Pal 
ace  this  morning,  we  were  all,  as  you  know,  unani 
mous  in  view  of  what  should  be  done  with  the  army. 
To  keep  us  here,  in  the  opinion  of  every  officer  com 
manding  a  division  or  a  brigade,  will  simply  involve 
the  destruction  of  thousands.  There  is  no  possible 
reason  for  not  shipping  practically  the  entire  com 
mand  north  at  once.  Yellow  fever  cases  are  very 
few  in  the  Cavalry  division,  where  I  command  one  of 
the  two  brigades,  and  not  one  true  case  of  yellow 
fever  has  occurred  in  this  division,  except  among  the 
men  sent  to  the  hospital  at  Siboney,  where  they  have, 
I  believe,  contracted  it.  But  in  this  division  there  have 
been  1,500  cases  of  malarial  fever.  Not  a  man  has  died 
from  it,  but  the  whole  command  is  so  weakened  and 
shattered  as  to  be  ripe  for  dying  like  rotten  sheep  when 
a  real  yellow  fever  epidemic,  instead  of  a  fake  epi 
demic  like  the  present  strikes  us,  as  it  is  bound  to,  if  we 
stay  here  at  the  height  of  the  sickness  season,  August 
and  the  beginning  of  September.  Quarantine  against 
malarial  fever  is  much  like  quarantining  against  the 
tooth-ache.  All  of  us  are  certain,  as  soon  as  the  au 
thorities  at  Washington  fully  appreciate  the  condi 
tions  of  the  army,  to  be  sent  home.  If  we  are  kept 
here,  it  will  in  all  human  possibility  mean  an  appalling 
disaster,  for  the  surgeons  here  estimate  that  over  half 
the  army,  if  kept  here  during  the  sickly  season,  will 
die.  This  is  not  only  terrible  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  individual  lives  lost,  but  it  means  ruin  from  the 
standpoint  of  military  efficiency  of  the  flower  of  the 
American  Army,  for  the  great  bulk  of  the  regulars 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  25 

are  here  with  you.  The  sick  list,  large  thoj  it  is,  ex 
ceeding  4,000,  affords  but  a  faint  index  of  the  debili 
tation  of  the  Army.  Not  10  per  cent,  are  fit  for  active 
work.  Six  weeks  on  the  North  Maine  coast,  for  in 
stance,  or  elsewhere,  where  the  yellow-fever  germs 
cannot  possibly  propagate,  would  make  us  all  as  fit  as 
fighting-cocks,  able  as  we  are  and  eager  to  take  a  lead 
ing  part  in  the  great  campaign  against  Havana  in  the 
Fall,  even  if  we  are  not  allowed  to  try  Porto  Rica. 
We  can  be  moved  north  if  moved  at  once,  with  abso 
lute  safety  to  the  country,  altho'  of  course  it  would 
have  been  infinitely  better  if  we  had  been  moved  north 
or  to  Porto  Rico  two  weeks  ago.  If  there  were  any 
object  in  keeping  us  here,  we  would  face  yellow  fever 
with  as  much  indifference  as  we  face  bullets,  but  there 
is  no  object  in  it.  The  four  immune  regiments  or 
dered  here  are  sufficient  to  garrison  the  city  and  sur 
rounding  towns,  and  there  is  absolutely  nothing  for  us 
to  do  here,  and  there  has  not  been  since  the  city  sur 
rendered.  It  is  impossible  to  move  into  the  interior. 
Every  shifting  of  camp  doubles  the  sick  rate  in  our 
present  weakened  condition,  and  anyhow,  the  interior 
is  rather  worse  than  the  coast,  as  /  have  found  by 
actual  reconnaissance.  Our  present  camps  are  as 
healthy  as  any  camps  at  this  end  of  the  Island  can  be. 
I  write  only  because  I  cannot  see  our  men  who  have 
fought  so  bravely  and  who  have  endured  extreme 
hardship  and  danger  so  uncomplainingly,  go  to  de 
struction  without  striving  so  far  as  lies  in  me  to  avert 
a  doom  as  fearful  as  it  is  unnecessary  and  undeserved. 
"Yours  respectfully, 

"THEODORE  ROOSEVELT, 
"Colonel  Commanding  First  Brigade." 
Had  not  "circumstances"  rendered  the  immediate 
suppression  of  this  famous  epistle  expedient  for  many 
reasons,  besides  rescuing  the  "brave  fellows"  from  the 
yawning  yellow  fever  peril,  it  might  also  have  served 


26        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

a  more  peaceful  but  not  less  noble  purpose  as  a  model 
of  English  composition  in  an  eighth-grade  Grammar 
School.  Mr.  Roosevelt's  fame  as  a  writer  is  as  wide 
spread  as  his  renown  as  statesman  and  warrior,  and 
the  inspiration  this  historic  document  would  impart  to 
the  literary  buds  which  flower  in  the  public  school  at 
mosphere,  as  well  as  the  ease  with  which  they  could 
copy  its  ornate,  pellucid  style,  must  commend  its  use 
to  all  progressive  and  patriotic  instructors  in  English. 

On  the  same  page  with  the  "Colonel  Roosevelt  let 
ter"  in  the  old  files  of  the  New  York  dailies,  is  found 
the  "Round  Robin,"  addressed  to  Major-General  Shaf- 
ter,  and  by  him  forwarded  to  the  War  Department: 
"We,  the  undersigned  officers  commanding  the  vari 
ous  brigades,  divisions,  etc.,  of  the  Army  of  Occupa 
tion  in  Cuba,  are  of  the  unanimous  opinion  that  this 
army  should  be  at  once  taken  out  of  the  Island  of  Cuba 
and  sent  to  some  point  on  the  northern  sea  coast  of 
the  United  States ;  that  it  can  be  done  without  danger 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States;  that  yellow  fever 
in  the  Army  at  present  is  not  epidemic ;  that  there  are 
only  a  few  sporadic  cases;  but  that  the  army  is  disa 
bled  by  malarial  fever  to  the  extent  that  its  efficiency 
is  destroyed,  and  that  it  is  in  a  condition  to  be  practi 
cally  entirely  destroyed  by  an  epidemic  of  yellow  fever 
which  is  sure  to  come  in  the  near  future.  We  know 
from  the  reports  of  competent  officers,  and  from  per 
sonal  observations,  that  the  Army  is  unable  to  move 
into  the  interior,  and  that  there  are  no  facilities  for 
such  a  move,  if  attempted,  and  that  it  could  not  be 
attempted  until  too  late. 

"Moreover,  the  best  medical  authorities  of  the  Is 
land  say  that,  with  our  present  equipment,  we  could 
not  live  in  the  interior  during  the  rainy  season,  without 
losses  from  malarial  fever,  which  is  almost  as  deadly 
as  yellow  fever.  This  Army  must  be  moved  at  once, 
or  perish. 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        27 

"As  the  Army  can  be  safely  moved  now,  the  persons 
responsible  for  preventing  such  a  move,  will  be  re 
sponsible  for  the  unnecessary  loss  of  many  thousands 
Gi  lives.  Our  opinions  are  the  result  of  careful  per 
sonal  observation,  and  they  are  also  based  on  the  unani 
mous  opinion  of  our  medical  officers  with  the  army, 
who  understand  the  situation  absolutely. 

"Signed:  Maj.-Gen.  Jos.  Wheeler,  Maj-Gen.  J. 
Ford  Kent,  Maj-Gen.  J.  C.  Bates,  Maj.-Gen.  Adnah 
R.  Chaff ee,  Maj.-Gen.  H.  W.  Lawton,  Brig.-Gen. 
Sam'l  S.  Sumner,  Brig-Gen.  Will  Ludlow,  Brig.-Gen. 
Adelbert  Ames,  Brig.-Gen.  Leonard  Wood  and  Col. 
Theodore  Roosevelt." 

As  appears  from  the  above,  the  Round  Robin  was 
merely  the  Roosevelt  letter  boiled  down  and  with  the 
edge  taken  off.  Even  thus,  it  was  too  much  for  the 
military  palate  of  bluff  old  General  Lawton,  who  ac 
companied  his  signature  to  the  memorable  petition  with 
the  following  protest  : 

"In  signing  the  above  letter,  I  do  so  with  the  under 
standing  it  has  been  seen  and  approved  by  the  Com 
manding-General.  I  desire  to  express  it  as  my  strong 
opinion  that  the  best  medical  authorities  of  the  Island, 
and  all  the  surgeons  of  the  command  be  also  required 
to  sign  the  paper.  I  desire  also  to  express  the  opinion 
that  the  mandatory  language  used  in  the  letter  is  im 
politic  and  unnecessary.  .  .  .  Milder  expressions  to 
those  in  high  authority  accomplish  just  as  much,  &c., 
&c." 

At  this  time  "the  Big  Stick"  had  not  been  heard  of, 
but  General  Lawton  appears  to  have  caught  a  pro 
phetic  swish  of  it  in  the  Round  Robin,  and  to  have 
otherwise  regarded  with  suspicion  this  apparently 
proper  paper. 

Needless  to  add,  General  Lawton's  protest  was  not 
"handed  to  the  press  correspondent  for  publication," 
along  with  the  Round  Robin  and  the  Colonel  Roose- 


28  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE 

velt  letter,  but  found  its  way  with  these  to  the  War 
Department,  and  is  reproduced  on  page  267  of  Alger's 
History. 

However  the  responsibility  for  the  Round  Robin 
proper  may  be  divided  up  among  the  "signers  in  the 
circles,"  there  can  be  no  possible  question  as  to  the 
authorship  and  individual  responsibility  for  the  com 
munication  signed  "Theodore  Roosevelt,  Colonel,  com 
manding  the  First  Brigade."  The  only  question — one 
which  has  rarely  if  ever  been  raised,  be  it  remembered 
— is,  how  did  these  important  communications,  car 
rying  such  weighty  state  secrets,  and  presumably  in 
tended  only  for  the  confidential  ear  of  the  War  De 
partment,  find  their  way  into  the  public  prints?  We 
know  who  received  praise  for  the  action,  at  the  time 
when  it  was  hastily  adjudged  worthy  of  praise,  from 
an  editorial  which  appeared  in  the  New  York  Tribune 
of  that  same  date,  August  5,  1898:  "Colonel  Theodore 
Roosevelt  is  credited  with  having  taken  the  initiative 
in  making  representations  which  put  any  delay  in  this 
matter  out  of  the  question. 

"If  the  Round  Robin  was  due  to  his  efforts,  then 
his  well-known  aggressive  activity  has  been  of  good 
value  to  his  fellow  soldiers,  &c." 

That  the  Tribune's  view  of  the  matter  was  not 
shared  by  President  McKinley  and  the  War  Depart 
ment,  appears  from  Alger's  statement:  "When  Presi 
dent  McKinley  read  the  Round  Robin  for  the  first 
time  in  the  newspapers,  he  became  very  much  excited 
and  indignant.  .  .  .  The  matter  was  regarded  so 
seriously  that,  after  a  conference  at  the  White  House, 
the  following  reprimand  was  cabled  to  General  Shaf- 
ter:  "White  House,  Washington,  August  5,  1898. 
Maj.-Gen.  Shafter,  Santiago: 

"At  this  time  when  peace  is  talked  of,  it  seems 
strange  that  you  should  give  out  your  cable  signed  by 
your  general  officers,  concerning  conditions  of  your 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  2O, 

army  to  the  Associated  Press,  without  permission  from 
the  War  Department.  You  did  not  even  await  a  reply 
to  your  communication. 

"R.  A.  ALGER,  Secretary  of  War." 

To  which  Gen.  Shafter  cabled  prompt  reply : 

"To  the  Hon.  R.  A.  Alger,  Secretary  of  War, 
Washington:  The  report  was  given  out,  as  I  have 
learned  since,  before  it  reached  me.  I  called  the  gen 
eral  officers  together  to  tell  them  what  I  proposed  to 
do,  to  express  to  them  my  views  and  to  ask  them  to 
give  me  theirs.  I  found  we  all  felt  alike.  Someone 
then  proposed  they  write  me  a  letter  setting  forth  their 
views,  and  I  told  them  to  do  so.  Meanwhile  I  wrote 
my  telegram,  and  later  it  was  handed  in  and  forwarded 
with  the  letter  of  the  surgeons  and  that  of  the  officers. 
It  was  not  until  some  time  after,  that  I  learned  this 
letter  had  been  given  to  the  press.  It  zvas  a  foolish,  im 
proper  thing  to  do,  and  I  regret  very  much  that  it 
occurred.  .  .  . 

"Roosevelt's  letter  I  know  nothing  of,  nor  of  what 
he  said.  ...  I  have  been  very  careful  about  giving 
to  the  press  any  information,  and  I  will  continue  to 
be  so. 

"W.  R.  SHAFTER,  Major-General." 

This  telegram  in  which  Gen.  Shafter  completely  ex 
onerates  himself  from  any  complicity  or  responsibility 
for  the  "foolish  and  improper"  publications,  is  found 
in  full  in  the  New  York  Sun  of  issue  August  6,  1898, 
in  a  dispatch  from  Washington,  on  page  271  of  Alger's 
book,  with  the  significant  elision  (in  the  book)  of  the 
sentence  referring  to  "Roosevelt's  letter." 

Now  then,  the  New  York  Tribune  of  August  5, 
1898,  stated  that  the  Roosevelt  letter  had  been  handed 
by  General  Shafter  (to  whom  it  was  ostensibly  ad 
dressed)  to  a  correspondent  of  the  Associated  Press 
for  publication ;  but  General  Shafter,  the  highest  com 
manding  officer  of  the  Army  in  Cuba,  in  a  cablegram 


30  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

to  the  Secretary  of  War,  which  is  to  become  part  of 
the  history  of  the  country,  emphatically  denies  this 
statement,  and  further  disclaims  all  knowledge  of  the 
letter  or  its  contents.  If  there  were  any  missing  link 
in  the  chain  of  evidence  fixing  the  responsibility  for 
this  publication  upon  Theodore  Roosevelt,  it  was  fur 
nished  by  Senator  Foraker  in  an  illuminating  sentence 
uttered  in  the  Senate  last  Spring. 

Wm.  Alden  Smith  of  Michigan  had  declined  to  pro 
duce  in  the  Senate  a  letter  addressed  to  him  by  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt,  or  to  confirm  a  report  of  it  which  had 
appeared  in  the  morning  paper,  saying  he  was  not  re 
sponsible  for  its  publication,  as  he  "made  it  a  rule  never 
to  divulge  any  personal  communication  from  the  Pres 
ident."  (Wise  Senator  Smith!) 

Whereupon  Senator  Foraker,  with  his  most  judicial 
air,  enunciated  the  following  syllogism:  "There  are 
but  two  parties  to  a  letter,  the  man  who  writes  it  and 
the  man  who  receives  it.  Since  the  recipient  in  this 
case  declares  he  did  not  give  it  to  the  public,  it  must 
have  come  from  the  White  House." 

So  it  is  manifest,  the  only  "two  parties"  to  the  Round 
Robin  letter  were  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  the  press  cor 
respondent  ! 

Close  attention  to  the  subject  matter  of  that  letter 
must  convince  any  candid  mind  that  it  was  never  in 
tended  for  General  Shafter,  but  for  the  public  to  whom 
it  was  "handed"  without  delay.  Such  a  letter  in 
tended  merely  as  a  private  communication  to  a  superior 
officer  is  an  absurdity,  on  its  face.  The  minute  and  ex 
pansive  details  as  to  the  physical  features  of  the  Is 
land,  and  the  condition  of  the  Army,  addressed  to  the 
commanding  officer  who  was  on  the  spot,  and  supposed 
to  be  as  familiar  with  the  whole  situation  even  as 
Colonel  Roosevelt  himself,  must  have  appeared  very 
Pickwickian  to  any  but  the  Rooseveltian  sense  of  hu 
mor. 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  3! 

The  Round  Robin  letter  was  the  picturesque  fore 
runner  of  that  notable  series  of  "personal  communi 
cations"  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  thought  proper  to 
"hand"  to  the  press  before  mailing  to  their  lawful  re 
cipients  ;  and  which  have  formed  such  a  unique  feature 
of  his  public  career. 

Concerning  the  Round  Robin,  on  page  269  of  his 
"Spanish- American  War,"  Alger  says:  "Of  the 
Round  Robin  itself,  I  have  no  criticism  to  offer. 

"General  Shafter  invited  his  officers  to  a  confer 
ence,  and  himself  telegraphed  to  the  War  Department 
their  conclusions  and  recommendations,  which  was 
entirely  proper  for  him  to  do.  But  I  do  criticise  the 
agencies  through  which  these  alarming  utterances 
were  given  to  the  world. 

"The  publication  of  the  Round  Robin  at  that  time 
was  one  of  the  most  unfortunate  and  regrettable  inci 
dents  of  the  war.  It  did  not,  as  commonly  reported, 
result  in  the  selection  of  Montauk  Point,  nor  hasten 
the  return  of  the  Santiago  Army,  as  every  possible 
effort  had  already  been  made,  and  was  then  making 
for  the  re-patriation  of  our  troops.  .  .  . 

"The  Round  Robin  dated  August  3rd  was  not  re 
ceived  at  the  War  Department  until  August  4th,  after 
General  Shafter  had  already  been  ordered  to  send  the 
Cavalry  division  back  on  August  1st,  and  the  entire 
Army  on  August  3rd.  For  reasons  of  public  policy, 
these  orders,  as  well  as  the  alarming  messages  re 
ceived  from  General  Shafter  as  to  the  condition  of  the 
Army,  were  not  made  public.  It  was  therefore  gen 
erally  believed  that  the  'Round  Robin'  was  responsible 
for  the  order  issued  for  the  return  of  the  5th  Corps, 
and  for  the  selection  of  Montauk  Point.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  either.  .  .  .  On 
the  other  hand,  the  information  this  startling  paper 
made  known,  not  only  brought  terror  and  anguish  to 
half  the  communities  and  neighborhoods  in  the  land, 


32        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

but  it  returned  to  Cuba  in  due  time  to  spread  demorali 
zation  among  our  troops.  ...  It  threatened  and 
might  have  accomplished  an  interruption  of  the  peace 
negotiations  then  in  progress  between  the  United 
States  and  Spain,  which  had  reached  their  most  deli 
cate  stage  at  the  time  when  the  Round  Robin,  with  all 
its  suggestion  of  panic  and  disaster,  was  made  public 
to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  That  a  satisfactory 
agreement  between  the  two  governments  was  at  last 
reached,  cannot  be  credited  to  those  who  precipitately 
gave  out  information  which  might  have  prevented 
it.  ... 

"Moreover,  the  publication  of  this  official  letter  was 
a  gross  breach  of  army  regulations  and  military  disci 
pline;  and  through  its  agency  the  enemy  secured  in 
formation  regarding  our  situation,  when  the  Govern 
ment  was  most  anxious  to  conceal  the  facts,  until  the 
acceptance  of  the  demands  of  the  United  States  could 
be  secured." 

A  wayfaring  man  or  a  quick-witted  child  may  grasp 
the  proposition, — had  a  less  debilitated  foe  than  Spain 
been  given  to  understand  that  disease  in  the  American 
ranks  was  fighting  on  her  side,  she  would  not  have  been 
o'er  hasty  in  concluding  terms  of  peace.  Besides  the 
international  complications  threatened  by  the  Round 
Robin  publication,  Alger  thus  writes  of  its  effect  at 
home:  "It  would  be  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
mischievous  and  wicked  effects  of  the  Round  Robin. 
It  afflicted  the  country  with  a  plague  of  anguish  and 
apprehension.  There  are  martyrs  in  all  wars,  but  the 
most  piteous  of  these  are  the  silent,  helpless,  heart 
broken  ones  who  stay  at  home  to  weep  and  pray  and 
wait — the  mother,  sister,  wife,  and  sweetheart.  To 
their  natural  suspense  and  suffering,  these  publications 
added  the  pangs  of  imaginary  terrors.  They  had  en 
dured  through  sympathy,  the  battle-field,  the  wasting 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        33 

hardships  of  the  camp,  the  campaign  in  the  tropics, 
the  fever-stricken  trench. 

"They  might  at  least  have  been  spared  this  wanton 
torture,  this  impalpable  and  formless,  yet  overwhelm 
ing  blow."  (Span.- Am.  War,  p.  273.) 

And  there  was  yet  another  feature  of  the  Round 
Robin  episode,  which  has  not  been  much  exploited, 
and  which  places  the  insistent  demand  of  the  noble 
Rough  Riders  to  be  removed  from  Cuba  in  no  very 
heroic  light. 

In  order  to  relieve  the  5th  Army  Corps  at  Santiago, 
five  regiments  of  U.  S.  Volunteers — so-called  "im- 
munes" — were  ordered  there  for  garrison  duty,  and 
of  this  Alger  says:  "As  soon  as  the  announcement 
was  made  that  the  "immune"  regiments  were  to  be 
sent  to  Santiago,  many  protests  were  received  against 
such  action.  No  attention,  however,  could  be  paid  to 
these  communications." 

One  of  these  protests,  sent  by  Senator  Bacon  of 
Georgia,  against  allowing  the  3rd  regiment  of  Volun 
teers,  a  company  of  young  Georgians,  to  go  into  the 
fever-stricken  country,  set  forth  the  facts,  that  these 
young  fellows — most  of  them  minors — had  not  stood 
any  "immune"  test ;  that,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were 
not  as  much  "immune"  as  the  soldiers  already  in  Cuba, 
and  quite  naturally,  they  had  no  greater  relish  for  be 
ing  sent  there  "to  die  like  rotten  sheep"  than  the  men 
who  were  so  urgently  seeking  to  avoid  that  fate ;  that, 
of  course,  if  there  were  fighting  to  be  done,  and  more 
men  needed,  they  were  volunteers,  and  ready  for  ac 
tion.  But  to  be  sent  into  a  pestilential  region  as  a 
vicarious  sacrifice  for  the  soldiers  who  had  reaped  the 
"glory  of  the  fighting"  and  were  now  fleeing  the  pesti 
lence,  was  a  wholly  different  matter,  and  did  not  ap 
peal  either  to  their  sense  of  justice  or  of  patriotic 
duty. 

Poubtless  considerations  of  this  nature  formed  the 


34        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

basis  of  the  "many  other  protests"  filed  with  the  War 
Department.  But  as  Secretary  Aljrer  relates,  "no  at 
tention  could  be  paid  to  them."  The  fiat  had  gone 
forth.  The  star  actor  in  the  gallant  Rough  Rider 
show  had  heard  the  curtain  call  in  New  York — he 
must  away!  The  5th  Corps  must  be  repatriated,  and 
the  "immunes"  must  take  their  chances  with  the  fever. 

On  page  271  of  Alger's  book,  occurs  this  statement: 
"Every  possible  effort  was  made  to  ascertain  the  name 
of  the  person  responsible  for  its  (the  Round  Robin) 
publication,  that  he  might  be  called  to  proper  account 
for  the  act,  but  in  vain." 

It  is  very  painful  to  encounter  a  snag  like  this  in 
the  smooth  current  of  an  apparently  truthful  narra 
tive,  and  from  the  pen  of  a  man  whose  historic  integ 
rity  is  above  reproach.  But  there  are  extenuating  cir 
cumstances.  A  present  United  States  Senator  who 
served  in  the  Cuban  campaign,  is  authority  for  the 
statement,  "Alger  knew  who  was  the  author  of  the 
Round  Robin  mischief,  and  made  no  secret  of  his 
wrath  in  a  conversation  I  had  with  him  on  my  return 
from  the  war."  There  is  other  evidence  that  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  was  not  suffering  from  any  delusion  re 
garding  the  military  character  of  the  Rough  Rider 
commander. 

On  the  same  date  (August  5,  1898)  on  which  it 
published  the  Round  Robin  and  the  "Colonel  Roose 
velt  letter,"  the  New  York  Sun,  in  a  dispatch  from 
Washington,  published  an  interesting  bit  of  corre 
spondence  between  Colonel  Roosevelt  and  the  Secre 
tary  of  War  of  a  previous  date,  July  23rd,  which  the 
dispatch  stated  the  Secretary  had  just  given  out  for 
publication.  This  ran  as  follows :  "Santiago  de  Cuba, 
July  23.  My  Dear  Mr.  Secretary :  I  am  writing  with 
the  knowledge  and  approval  of  General  Wheeler.  We 
earnestly  hope  that  you  will  send  us  most  of  the  regu 
lars,  and  at  any  rate  the  cavalry  division,  including 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        35 

the  Rough  Riders,  who  are  as  good  as  any  regulars, 
and  three  times  as  good  as  any  state  troops,  to  Porto 
Rica. 

"There  are  1,800  effective  men  in  this  division.  If 
those  who  were  left  behind  were  joined  to  them,  we 
could  land  at  Porto  Rica  in  this  cavalry  division  close 
to  4,000  men,  who  would  be  worth  easily  any  10,000 
National  Guards  armed  with  black  powder,  Spring- 
fields,  or  other  archaic  weapons,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 
"Very  respectfully, 

"THEODORE  ROOSEVELT." 

Following  this,  the  Sun  gives  the  rebuke  which  was 
cabled  to  Colonel  Roosevelt:  "Your  letter  of  the  23rd 
is  received.  The  regular  army,  the  volunteer  army, 
and  the  Rough  Riders  have  done  well,  but  I  suggest 
that,  unless  you  want  to  spoil  the  effects  and  glory  of 
your  victory,  you  make  no  invidious  comparisons.  The 
Rough  Riders  are  no  better  than  other  volunteers. 
They  had  an  advantage  in  their  arms,  for  which  they 
ought  to  be  very  grateful. 

"R.  A.  ALGER,  Secretary  of  War." 

The  hero-worshippers  were  scandalized  by  this 
publication,  and  the  obedient  press  "wondered  why 
Secretary  Alger  wanted  to  publish  a  correspondence 
of  this  sort";  even  as  Secretary  Alger  doubtless  won 
dered  why  Colonel  Roosevelt  wanted  to  publish  a  cor 
respondence  like  the  Round  Robin. 

"The  Rough  Riders  are  no  better  than  other  volun 
teers!" 

The  promulgation  of  this  new  and  strange  and  au 
dacious  doctrine  stamps  the  promulgator  as  a  man  of 
exceptional  moral  courage.  But  Alger  resigned  from 
the  War  Department  in  1899 — probably  in  disgust — 
and  his  "Spanish-American  War"  did  not  appear  until 
1901,  after  Mr.  Roosevelt,  by  the  death  of  McKinley, 
had  succeeded  to  the  presidency. 

There  is  a  rumor — which  the  writer  of  this  took 


36         ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

some  pains  to  verify — that  the  Alger  History  was 
edited,  revised  and  partly  written  by  a  wtll-known 
newspaper  man  of  Washington.  Ah!  Now  the  light 
breaks  on  what  was  before  enveloped  in  mystery.  Un 
der  the  deft,  discriminating  touches  of  one  of  those 
clever,  chameleon  artists  who  manufacture  editorials 
for  the  Washington  local  press,  one  understands  how 
the  incriminating  sentence,  "I  know  nothing  of  the 
Roosevelt  letter,  nor  of  what  he  said,"  disappeared 
from  the  Shafter  telegram.  It  is  perfectly  clear  like 
wise,  how  the  Roosevelt  letter  itself,  and  all  reference 
to  it,  or  to  any  possible  connection  he  might  have  had 
with  the  Round  Robin,  were  most  carefully  omitted 
from  the  Alger  book.  For  these  Washington  artists 
are  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  conviction — handed  to 
them  with  their  salaries — that  there  is  no  crime  in  the 
category  like  lese  majeste  toward  the  White  House 
throne.  Historical  accuracy,  individual  conviction, 
and  every  other  consideration  must  be  sacrificed  to  the 
paramount  duty  of  making  the  "present  administra 
tion" — whatever  its  complexion  and  while  it  lasts — in 
all  its  details  and  appurtenances,  "one  grand,  sweet 
song!" 

But  while  this  explains  the  misleading  paragraph 
and  the  significant  omissions  in  the  Alger  book,  it 
does  not  explain  the  "conspiracy  of  silence"  between 
the  War  Department,  the  military  authorities  in  Cuba, 
and  the  New  York  press — all  of  whom  had  knowl 
edge  of  the  facts — to  shield  Colonel  Roosevelt  in  the 
Summer  of  1898  from  the  consequences  of  his  "gross 
breach  of  army  regulations  and  of  military  disci 
pline" — according  to  Alger. 

To  understand  this,  one  must  review  the  political 
situation  in  New  York  at  that  time.  The  Republican 
outlook  in  that  State  was  not  a  cheerful  one, — as  the 
managers  themselves  admitted.  Governor  Black's 
overwhelming  plurality  in  1896  had  given  an  extra 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        37 

reckless  swing  to  the  Platt  machine.  The  "Boss"  in 
terpreted  the  sweeping  Republican  victory  as  a  special 
tribute  to  his  personal  popularity.  But  Governor 
Black  no  sooner  began  to  rule  than  he  began  to  blun 
der.  Then  the  Canal  scandal  was  unearthed,  revealing 
$3,000,000  of  the  people's  money  wasted  and  stolen  by 
Republican  leaders  and  heelers.  To  re-nominate 
Black,  with  all  the  sins  of  his  administration  crying  to 
Heaven,  meant  certain  defeat  at  the  polls ;  and  no  other 
available  candidate  was  in  sight.  Finally  after  a 
gloomy  conference,  one  of  the  leaders  remarked  to  an 
other,  "If  Teddy  comes  home  a  hero,  we  will  nomi 
nate  and  elect  him  governor."  That  settled  it.  "Teddy 
must  come  home  a  hero !" 

In  that  same  historic  summer  of  1898,  Richard 
Croker  was  accredited  with  the  cynical  remark,  that 
"no  man  need  be  nominated  for  governor  of  New 
York,  who  could  not  show  at  least  one  scar  received  in 
the  Cuban  fight." 

And  so  it  came  about,  as  set  forth  by  Historian 
Leupp  that  "Teddy"  made  his  campaign  for  the  gov 
ernorship  upon  his  "war  record,"  and  "court-martial 
proceedings"  would  not  have  looked  well  in  a  "war 
record"  employed  in  such  a  noble  cause.  John  W. 
Bennett  in  his  (pp.  102-12)  "Roosevelt  and  the  Re 
public,"  gives  an  interesting  account  of  another  im 
portant  factor  which  entered  into  this  far-reaching 
gubernatorial  campaign.  Bennett  relates  that  Roose 
velt  made  a  bargain  with  the  "Citizens'  Union" — the 
Independent  organization  of  New  York  who  were  en 
couraged  by  the  peculiar  political  muddle  to  put  out  a 
ticket — to  accept  their  nomination,  upon  condition  they 
would  allow  him  to  use  the  backing  of  the  Independ 
ents  as  a  "club"  to  force  the  regular  Republican  nom 
ination;  with  the  further  understanding  that  if  he 
failed  to  secure  the  Republican  nomination,  he  would 
be  free  to  reject  the  Independent  nomination  also.  Tp 


38  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

this  the  Independents  agreed,  stipulating  in  their  turn, 
that  they  would  select  the  other  names  on  their  ticket, 
and  that  not  all  of  them  would  be  Republicans.  To 
this,  Roosevelt  agreed  also,  and  thus  they  parted,  with 
the  distinct  understanding  that  if  he  ran  for  governor 
at  all,  he  was  irrevocably  committed  to  the  Independ 
ent  nomination.  The  Republican  nomination  was  to 
be  additional.  Thus  the  agreement  stood  for  weeks, 
while  the  Independents  perfected  their  organization — 
involving  some  statutory  complications — and  ear 
nestly  canvassed  the  State  in  Roosevelt's  behalf.  Then 
when  this  Independent  side-show  had  served  the  pur 
pose  for  which  he  had  engaged  it — that  of  capturing 
the  Republican  nomination — Roosevelt  calmly  threw 
over  the  Independents,  and  took  up  his  political  head 
quarters  in  the  camp  of  Platt,  Odell  &  Co. — the  very 
men  whom  he  had  covenanted  with  the  Independents 
to  overthrow.  The  Independents,  astonished  and  ag 
grieved,  contented  themselves  with  publishing  the  facts 
and  naming  another  candidate,  but  too  late  to  do  any 
effective  work  for  him.  They  had  "shot  their  bolt" 
for  Roosevelt,  and  it  was  past  recall.  Commenting  on 
this  episode,  Bennett  says:  "If  a  cleverer  piece  of 
political  manipulation  can  be  found  in  the  history  of 
the  United  States,  it  has  escaped  our  notice.  Roose 
velt  demonstrated  himself  a  past  master  at  the  game  of 
politics.  Squeamish  persons  might  object  to  the  bad 
faith  involved,  but  they  make  the  mistake  of  judging 
Roosevelt  by  ordinary  standards. 

"What  would  have  been  rank  trickery  in  Platt,  Quay, 
or  Gorman,  might  be  quite  laudable  in  a  gentleman  of 
high  and  holy  motives,  seeking  an  end  much  to  be  de 
sired." 

Roosevelt  had  not  had  the  nomination  many  weeks 
before  his  astute  political  sagacity  warned  him  that  he 
would  be  beaten  unless  he  broke  the  policy  of  silence 
imposed  on  him  by  the  Platt  machine,  and  openly  de- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  39 

nounced  the  Canal  thieves.  Taking  his  cue  with  the 
promptitude  of  the  born  actor,  he  rushed  through  the 
State,  carrying  a  few  Rough  Riders  along  as  a  re 
minder  of  his  "war  record,"  declaring  from  the  rear 
end  of  his  car  at  every  stop  that,  "if  there  were  Canal 
thieves,  they  should  be  punished."  By  dint  of  work 
ing  both  roles  at  once,  as  military  hero  and  civic  re 
former,  ably  assisted  by  the  substantial  efforts  of  the 
Republican  machine  and  the  contributory  blunders  of 
Richard  Croker,  our  Strenuous  hero  attained  his  goal 
— the  State  House  at  Albany,  by  a  narrow  plurality  of 
17,000  votes,  as  contrasted  with  Gov.  Black's  plurality 
of  212,000,  two  years  previous,  and  Odell's  plurality 
of  111,000,  two  years  later.  After  all,  the  "war  rec 
ord"  may  have  had  a  great  deal  to  overcome  in  the 
way  of  reluctance  on  the  part  of  voters  to  support  this 
particular  hero  and  reformer.  And  the  "Round  Robin" 
incident,  which  was  a  part  of  the  "war  record,"  was 
completely  relegated  to  the  limbo  of  oblivion,  dropped 
from  the  stage  properties  henceforth. 

But  for  those  silent  witnesses,  the  yellowed  files  of 
the  New  York  dailies  of  ten  years  back,  there  is  no 
scrip  nor  sign  to  show  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  ever  had 
any  connection  with  the  once  famous  document. 

True,  the  devoted  Riis,  who  has  the  happy  faculty 
of  turning  every  Rooseveltian  act  into  a  paean  of 
praise,  in  his  book  (which  was  not  brought  out  until 
his  hero  became  President)  speaks  of  it:  "The  Colonel 
of  the  Rough  Riders  at  the  head  of  his  men  on  San 
Juan  Hill,  much  as  I  like  the  picture,  is  not  half  so 
heroic  a  figure  to  me,  as  Roosevelt  in  this  hour  of 
danger  and  doubt,  shouldering  the  blame  for  the  step 
he  knew  to  be  right!" 

This  is  interesting  as  showing  to  what  maudlin 
lengths  of  misrepresentation  even  a  good  man  may  go, 
when  he  resigns  himself  unreservedly  to  the  trans 
ports  of  hero-worship,  and  also  as  pointing  to  the  fact 


4O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

that  Riis  also  knew  Roosevelt  to  be  the  author  of  the 
Round  Robin. 

So  far  from  "shouldering  the  blame  for  what  he 
knew  to  be  right" — tho'  everybody  else  knew  it  to  be 
wrong — there  is  every  reason  to  believe  Roosevelt 
tried  to  affix  the  blame  of  the  publication — if  blame 
there  should  be — upon  Gen.  Shatter,  by  authorizing  the 
New  York  Tribune's  statement  that  "Gen.  Shafter 
had  handed  the  letter  to  the  press  correspondent."  If 
Col.  Roosevelt  did  not  authorize  that  statement,  who 
did? 

He  and  the  press  correspondent  were  the  only  two 
individuals  who  had  any  knowledge  of  the  letter  prior 
to  its  being  given  to  the  public. 

Perhaps  the  correspondent  just  dreamed  Gen.  Shaf 
ter  handed  it  to  him. 

President  Roosevelt  was  rather  severe  upon  a  "con 
spiracy  of  silence"  some  years  later,  when  Negro  sol 
diers  were  the  guilty  party ;  but  will  the  American  peo 
ple  render  harsher  judgment  in  the  case  of  negroes — 
following  a  blind  racial  instinct — than  in  the  case  of 
the  highest  military  and  governmental  officials  in  the 
land?  It  was  a  curious  trick  of  Fate,  that  the  benefi 
ciary  of  the  Round-Robin  "conspiracy  of  silence" 
should  by  means  of  it,  mount  the  steps  of  his  judg 
ment-throne  to  pass  sentence  upon  the  negroes !  Un 
less  the  Roosevelt  sense  of  humor  is  an  inappreciable 
quantity,  he  must  smile  to  himself  over  this  sometimes. 


"MOUNTED  THE  STEPS  OF  HIS  JUDGMENT-THRONE 
TO  PASS  SENTENCE  ON  THE  NEGROES." 

Facias'  page  -H.—Rooscv,  liian  Fact  &  Fable. 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  4! 


CHAPTER   IV. 
"ROOSEVELT-REFORM"  LEGENDS. 

Of  all  the  plastic  poses  struck  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  be 
fore  an  admiring  public,  the  one  which  suits  him  best 
is  that  of  "reformer."  Out  of  the  entertaining  notion 
that  the  universe  somehow  revolves  about  his  belt, 
was  evolved  that  other  engaging  idea  that  everything 
was  wrong  until  he  touched  it.  With  him,  to  see  is  to 
condemn,  and  having  condemned,  the  natural  and  logi 
cal  business  is  to  "reform."  He  would  have  "re 
formed"  all  those  faulty  statesmen  and  so-called 
"great  men"  of  the  Past,  had  they  not  considerately 
passed  off  the  boards  before  he  came  up  with  them. 
Having  escaped  in  the  flesh,  he  was  forced  to  content 
himself  with  assailing  their  memories,  and  pointing  out 
to  this  generation  of  deluded  Americans,  the  radical 
defects  and  moral  deformities  of  such  men  as  Thomas 
Jefferson,  James  Madison,  Monroe,  Morris,  Otis,  Sam 
uel  Adams,  and  Patrick  Henry;  while  Aaron  Burr 
and  Jefferson  Davis  are  selected  to  point  the  moral 
and  adorn  the  hideous  tale  of  American  treason.  All 
these  weighty  deliberations,  and  infallible  estimates 
were  made  up  by  the  author  at  the  mature  age  of 
thirty,  and  handed  out  in  his  Lives  of  Benton  and 
Morris,  and  his  "Winning  of  the  West." 

Any  Rooseveltian  admirer  who  has  not  yet  found 
opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  his  hero  in  his 
capacity  as  a  maker  of  literature,  should  take  a  day  off 
and  read  some  of  these  marvelous  literary  creations. 
It  will  be  hard  work,  but  it  will  repay  the  trouble,  in 


42  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

the  illumination  it  will  shed  on  the  writer's  order  of 
intellect  and  cast  of  thought;  more  especially  on  that 
bumptious  arrogance  and  "cock-suredness"  which  hath 
ever  characterized  the  great  thinkers  of  all  ages. 

Having  settled  the  case  of  the  dead  statesman  in  his 
books,  Mr.  Roosevelt  next  turns  his  attention  to  their 
living  prototypes,  the  politicians,  who,  as  everybody 
knows,  are  always  in  need  of  "reforming." 

So  hot  has  been  his  pursuit  of  their  manifold  wick 
edness,  and  so  faithfully  have  the  newspaper  claquers 
heralded  the  proceedings,  that  the  average  American 
who  absorbs  his  knowledge  of  men  and  affairs  from 
his  morning  paper  between  morsels  of  toast  and  cof 
fee,  who  reads  no  histories,  consults  no  official  records, 
and  wastes  no  valuable  time  putting  two  and  two  to 
gether  to  reach  a  conclusion  not  being  voiced  by  the 
crowd — is  morally  certain  that  Roosevelt  is  the  great 
est  civic  reformer  that  ever  came  down  the  American 
pike ;  and  that  whenever  he  passes  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Thomas  Circle  in  Washington,  the  bronze  statue  of 
Martin  Luther  trembles  on  its  base.  Equally  certain 
is  this  well-informed  average  American  that  all  the 
"wicked  trusts"  and  "high  financiers"  in  the  country 
are  cowering  in  their  predatory  lairs,  in  hourly  expec 
tation  of  a  blow  from  the  Big  Stick. 

It  will  be  an  interesting,  tho'  difficult  and  delicate 
task,  to  investigate  these  "reform"  legends  which  have 
taken  such  a  hold  on  the  popular  mind.  But  we  shall 
ask  these  plain,  every-day  Americans,  those  who  toil 
and  spin,  and  love  and  hope ;  those  who  have  no  special 
interest  in  fostering  delusions — either  in  themselves  or 
in  others — about  the  "governing  class,"  to  travel  with 
us  a  little  way  into  the  realm  of  Fact. 

Let  us  get  right  down  to  "brass  tacks" — the  historic 
and  official  records — and  find  out  for  ourselves  what 
has  actually  been  done  by  this  Strenuous  "reformer" 
who  is  claiming  so  much  glory  for  his  performances. 


"HE  MAKES  THE  BRONZE  STATUE  OF  MARTIN  LUTHER 

TREMBLE  ON  ITS  BASE." 
(Rooseveltian  I-' act  &  Fable.) 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  43 

We  have  seen  how  he  toyed  with  the  Civil-Service 
law,  passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature  during  Gov 
ernor  Cleveland's  administration ;  have  seen  also  how 
lightly  he  shed  his  "reform"  garment  to  don  the  par- 
tizan  regimentals  of  Elaine  in  1884.  After  Elaine's 
defeat,  finding  his  old  Reform  associates  in  New  York 
look  somewhat  coldly  on  him,  Roosevelt  sought  the  se 
clusion  of  the  Dakota  wilds,  and  solace  for  his 
-wounded  spirit  in  the  warm  blood  of  grizzlies  and  other 
roaming  beasts.  It  was  here  he  acquired  some  ac 
quaintance  with,  and  taste  for,  cow-boy  life  and  man 
ners.  Here  also,  he  is  supposed  to  have  gained  in  a 
few  months,  that  intimate  knowledge  of  the  habits  and 
peculiarities  of  the  wild  creatures — denizens  of  the 
forest,  field,  air  and  water — which  was  to  throw  con 
fusion  and  terror  into  the  ranks  of  the  "nature-fakirs" 
(some  of  whom  had  vainly  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
same  study)  in  after  years. 

From  the  Dakota  wilds,  our  hero  answered  the  par- 
tizan  call  from  his  native  State  to  come  back  and  carry 
the  Republican  standard  in  the  mayoralty  contest  of 
New  York  in  1886,  when  Henry  George  and  his  So 
cialistic  followers  were  threatening  "property  and  re 
spectability"  in  that  city. 

The  result  was  the  election  of  the  Tammany  candi 
date,  and  Roosevelt  came  out  a  poor  third  in  the  vot 
ing.  This  was  not  particularly  flattering,  but  then  he 
had  saved  the  city  from  the  "anarchists" — saved  it  to 
Tammany  and  the  "interests,"  and  laid  another  votive 
offering  before  "the  star-eyed  goddess  of  Reform!" 

As  a  reward  for  his  active  services  in  the  Harrison- 
Cleveland  campaign  of  1888,  Roosevelt  asked  to  be 
made  Assistant  Secretary  of  State.  But  Elaine,  the 
then  premier,  opposed  his  appointment,  having  no 
fancy  seemingly  for  this  aggressive  and  self-assertive 
trouble-maker  to  complicate  affairs  of  state  in  his  De 
partment.  Such  is  the  short-lived  gratitude  of  princes 


44  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  * 

and  "plumed-knights."  Foiled  in  this  design  of  ad 
vancing  his  position  among  the  "governing  class/' 
Roosevelt  was  forced  to  accept  the  humbler  office  of 
Civil- Service  Commissioner. 

But  by  the  attention  this  attracted,  from  the  flam 
boyant  methods  of  the  new  incumbent,  it  suddenly  took 
rank  with  the  most  important  offices  in  the  Govern 
ment.  The  pioneer  work  done  by  Cleveland,  Eaton, 
Lyman,  and  others,  had  cleared  the  way  and  assured 
the  popularity  of  the  "merit  system."  The  new  Com 
missioner  was  taking  no  risk  in  championing  it,  and 
he  had  no  sooner  warmed  his  seat  than  through 
effusive  magazine  articles,  he  was  telling  the  country 
all  about  Civil-Service.  He  lambasted  its  "enemies" ; 
courted  newspaper  controversies  with  congressmen  and 
senators  who  had  been  heard  to  criticise  the  system. 
An  unsympathetic  observer  remarks :  "It  was  not  his 
fault  that  these  men  were  prominent,  nor  his  misfor 
tune  that,  because  of  their  prominence  he  could  by 
means  of  these  controversies  mount  into  the  public 
view." 

The  work  which  had  hitherto  been  done  quietly  and 
unostentatiously,  was  now  done  clamorously  and  in  big 
type.  Historian  Leupp  unconsciously  confirms  this: 
"Whoever  expected  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  remain  long  hid 
den  in  any  position,  however  insignificant,  did  not 
know  the  man.  .  .  .  Hence  it  came  about  that  on 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  entrance  into  it,  the  Civil-Service  Com 
mission,  for  the  first  time  since  its  foundation,  threw 
open  its  office  doors  freely  to  all  comers.  The  news 
paper  correspondents  in  Washington  were  made  wel 
come,  and  furnished  with  any  information  that  could 
properly  be  given  out." 

Naturally  enough,  the  eyes  of  the  country  were  fre 
quently  turned  toward  the  Civil  Service  Commission, 
where  "the  thunderous  Roosevelt  always  held  the  cen 
ter  of  the  stage,"  Just  as  naturally  the  impression 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  45 

grew  that  here  was  the  original  if  not  the  only  C.  S. 

reformer. 

Biographer  Riis  tells  us:  "He  found  14,000  Gov 
ernment  employees  under  Civil-Service  rules,  and  left 
40,000."  Riis  likewise  makes  the  unblushing  state 
ment:  "In  the  New  York  Legislature  he  had  forced 
through  a  civil  service  law  that  was  substantially  the 
same  as  he  was  here  set  to  enforce  (as  C.  S.  Com 
missioner)." 

We  have  seen  how  he  "forced  it  through,"  by  de 
clining  to  honor  it  with  his  vote ! 

Pushing  aside  fulsome  biographies  and  "inspired" 
newspaper  reports,  let  us  for  a  little  while  inspect  some 
facts  and  figures  taken  fresh  from  the  books  of  the 
Civil-Service  Commission.  At  the  end  of  Arthur's 
administration  and  the  beginning  of  Cleveland's  re 
gime,  there  were  in  the  classified  service  about  14,500 
places  out  of  a  total  125,000.  During  his  first  term 
President  Cleveland  by  executive  orders,  added  7,000 
places  to  the  classified  service ;  natural  growth  added 
5,000  more.  So  that  when  Cleveland  left  office  in 
1889,  the  date  of  Roosevelt's  entrance  as  Commis 
sioner,  there  were  approximately  28,000  employees  un 
der  civil  service  rules,  representing  a  gain  of  nearly 
100  per  cent,  in  four  years. 

Civil  Service  reform  made  slow  progress  under 
President  Harrison,  until  he  was  defeated  for  re-elec 
tion,  and  then,  Jan.  5,  1893 — two  months  before  he 
must  yield  the  place  to  President  Cleveland,  Harrison, 
by  executive  order,  placed  all  the  free-delivery  post- 
offices  under  the  classified  service. 

By  this  "eleventh-hour"  coup,  7,660  places  were 
added  to  the  classified  list,  and  7,660  Republicans  were 
threby  made  secure  from  the  anticipated  assaults  of 
Cleveland's  hungry  followers.  Before  this,  Harrison 
had  added  only  about  350  other  places  in  the  three 
vears  of  his  administration,  and  yet  this  shabby  par- 


46  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

tizan  trick  has  been  charged  up  on  the  credit  side  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  Civil-Service  account! 

When  Cleveland  returned  to  the  helm,  he  resumed 
the  extension  of  the  classified  list,  placing  therein 
teachers  in  the  Indian  schools,  meat  inspectors,  mes 
sengers  in  the  Departments,  and  watchmen.  Smaller 
customs-houses,  steamship  mail  clerks,  railway  mail 
clerks,  and  many  excepted  places  in  the  postal  service 
were  also  included.  Roosevelt  resigned  in  May,  1895, 
to  become  Police-Commissioner  of  New  York  City, 
but  the  Civil-Service  Commission  appears  to  have 
wagged  along  pretty  well  without  him. 

The  Treasury  Department,  Pension  agencies,  In 
dian  affairs,  and  the  Government  printery  were  all  suc 
cessively  brought  under  the  Commission,  and  by  the 
Cleveland  order  of  May  6,  1896,  nearly  half  the  places 
in  the  executive  list  were  brought  under  C.  S.  rules,  a 
gain  of  25  per  cent,  since  Harrison's  exit.  A  recent 
writer  on  Civil  Service  says :  "Cleveland  was  also  ac 
cused  of  getting  his  partizans  under  cover  of  Civil 
Service  before  giving  up  his  official  ghost;  but  as  his 
sweeping  order  was  made  nearly  a  year  before  his  term 
expired,  and  his  work  in  the  same  direction  had  been 
so  consistent  throughout,  the  charge  has  little  force. 

For  practical,  consistent  work,  Cleveland  stands 
head  and  shoulders  above  every  other  presidential 
civil-service  reformer.  While  his  work  was  done 
quietly  and  simply,  it  was  thorough,  greatly  strength 
ening  the  weak  places,  and  striking  down  evasion  and 
fraud."  The  same  writer  speaks  thus  of  Roosevelt: 
"Without  adding  to  or  subtracting  from  Roosevelt's 
record  as  C.  S.  Commissioner,  we  may  say  he  was  an 
efficient  officer,  despite  his  bluster  and  grand-stand 
posing.  .  .  .  Aside  from  the  clamor  of  it,  however, 
his  record  is  in  no  sense  extraordinary.  Had  Roose 
velt  never  been  connected  with  the  Civil-Service  Com 
mission,  it  is  more  than  probable  the  cause  would  be 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  47 

just  as  far  advanced.  .  .  .  Effective  fighting  was 
done  by  his  predecessors  and  by  his  overshadowing 
chief.  His  work  in  the  Commission  was  that  of  a 
faithful,  but  noisy  and  spectacular,  tho'  very  ordinary 
officer,  nothing  more." 

Certain  is  it,  that  but  for  Harrison's  "eleventh-hour" 
stroke,  for  the  protection  of  his  partizans,  his  adminis 
tration — under  which  Roosevelt  served  the  bulk  of  his 
term  as  Commissioner — would  have  meant  very  little 
for  the  cause  of  Civil-Service  reform;  and  but  for 
Cleveland's  timely  return  to  power  to  swell  the  classi 
fied  list  during  the  last  two  years  of  Roosevelt's  term 
as  Commissioner,  there  would  have  been  no  such 
plethoric  array  of  Civil-Service  figures  for  anybody  to 
translate  into  Roosevelt  "reform"  glory. 

So  much  for  his  Civil-Service  halo,  which  suffered 
further  tarnishment  during  his  administration  of  the 
presidency.  Historian  Leupp  gives  an  amusing  ac 
count  (Leupp  didn't  intend  to  be  amusing)  of  Roose 
velt  when  Commissioner,  assembling  all  the  Southern 
newspaper  representatives  in  Washington,  and  bidding 
them  spread  the  glad  tidings  throughout  the  benighted 
and  poverty-stricken  Southland  that  He — Roosevelt, 
was  now  at  the  helm ;  and  that  it  was  his  magnanimous 
desire  that  the  blessings  of  Civil  Service  fall  equally 
upon  the  descendants  of  the  secessionist  and  the  slave- 
driver.  Leup  adds,  with  charming  naivette:  "The 
effect  was  magical.  The  examinations  on  the  South 
ern  routes  began  to  swarm  with  bright  young  fellows, 
to  whom,  by  the  then  modest  standards  of  the  South  a 
salary  of  $1,200  waf  riches!" 

It  is  very  painful  to  have  to  subtract  anything  from 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  Southern  credit-sheet,  but  facts  are 
facts,  and  this  is  a  true  story. 

That  the  South  has  found  a  better  use  for  her 
"bright  young  fellows"  than  to  permit  them  to  stag 
nate  in  the  executive  Departments  at  Washington,  is 


48  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

abundantly  proven  by  the  notorious  fact,  that  far 
fewer  men  from  the  South  have  been  caught  by  the 
departmental  lure  than  from  any  other  section  of  the 
country.  The  heads  of  the  C.  S.  Commission  will  tell 
you  to-day,  that  despite  the  cordial  invitations  ex 
tended  not  only  by  Roosevelt,  but  by  several  of  his 
successors,  the  examinations  on  the  Southern  routes 
have  not  "swarmed"  with  applicants,  and  that  all  ef 
forts  on  the  part  of  the  Commission  have  been  una 
vailing  to  induce  Southern  young  men  to  abandon 
more  independent,  not  to  say  more  lucrative  jobs  at 
home.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  with  the 
South's  industrial  renaissance,  at  any  time  during  the 
past  twenty  years,  a  thoroughly  efficient  cotton  buyer 
or  travelling  salesman  received  more  salary — some  of 
them  twice  as  much,  as  Mr.  Leupp  says,  "by  the 
South's  modest  standards,"  was  accounted  "riches." 
It  is  not  improbable  that  the  South's  standard  of 
riches  and  of  most  other  things,  is  not  more  "modest" 
than  are  Mr.  Leupp's  demands  on  the  public  credulity 
with  his  Roosevelt  fairy  tales. 

Having  exhausted  all  the  arts  of  the  press-agent  in 
the  office  of  the  Civil-Service  Commission,  Roosevelt 
wearied  of  the  place,  and  and  turned  his  eyes  toward 
New  York — "the  storm-center."  He  was  accredited 
with  congressional  aspirations  at  that  time,  and  in  or 
der  to  get  himself  prominently  before  the  people, 
Leupp  says,  "he  yielded  to  Mayor  Strong's  solicta- 
tions"  to  become  the  head  of  the  re-organized  Police 
Commission. 

Another  authority  says  Mayor  Strong  offered  him 
the  position  in  response  to  a  timely  suggestion  from 
one  of  Roosevelt's  friends,  that  Roosevelt  would  like 
to  have  it.  That  is  immaterial.  Friends  and  foes  alike 
testify  that  he  made  a  good  police  commissioner,  one 
of  the  best  New  York  has  had.  Bennett  says  of  him 
in  this  capacity:  "Roosevelt  is  an  excellent  censor  of 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  49 

commonplace  morality.  He  appreciates  order  and  re 
spectability.  Order  and  respectability  are  the  things 
policemen  are  designed  to  enforce.  Roosevelt  was  in 
his  element." 

He  was  also  in  his  element  in  being  assigned  the 
agreeable  task  of  castigating  Tammany  offenders.  Of 
all  his  "reform"  roles,  none  has  given  him  such  holy 
joy  as  that  of  the  Republican  St.  George  slaying  the 
Tammany  dragon.  Parkhurst,  the  fiery  zealot,  in  his 
crusade  against  police  rottenness,  had  blazed  the  way ; 
Mayor  Strong,  elected  on  the  reform  wave,  had  re 
organized  the  Board.  Everything  was  in  readiness  for 
the  coming  of  Roosevelt, — and  he  came.  Needless  to 
say,  the  work  of  reform  went  on  merrily,  and  with  the 
usual  brass-band  accompaniment. 

As  it  had  been  in  the  C.  S.  Commission,  so  it  was 
in  the  Police  Board,  the  doors  were  thrown  wide  open 
to  interviewers,  and  for  months  the  city  talked  of 
Roosevelt  and  police, — to  the  secret  joy  of  certain 
"high  financiers"  who  knew  the  people  thus  harm 
lessly  engaged,  would  not  keep  such  close  tab  on  their 
maneuvers.  Of  which,  J.  W.  Bennett  testifies:  "Roose 
velt  and  Parkhurst,  both  resonantly  honest,  cast  out 
real  Tammany  devils  whose  numbers  were  legion, 
while  the  'Interests/  silently,  deftly,  swiftly,  captured 
New  York  public  privileges  richer  than  Golconda." 

So  intent  was  the  Strenuous  commissioner  in  im 
pressing  his  own  righteous  will  upon  the  New  York 
police  system,  that  he  ruthlessly  trampled  police  stat 
utes,  which  to  mere  ordinary  thinkers  might  seem  to 
make  for  fairness.  One  of  these  was  that  no  man 
should  be  dismissed  from  the  service  without  a  trial, 
and  the  Commissioner's  action  was  reviewable  by  the 
courts.  Another  was,  that  policemen  should  be  chosen 
by  competitive  examination.  During  Mr.  Roosevelt's 
administration  of  police  affairs,  100  men  "walked  the 
plank"  without  trial ;  and  the  candidates  for  examine- 


5O        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

tion,  were  chosen  by  himself — he  of  course  being-  the 
best  and  final  judge  of  their  fitness!  When  as  an 
Assemblyman,  he  had  been  appointed  to  investigate 
Tammany  wickedness,  he  had  found  this  arbitrary  se 
lection  of  men  by  the  Police  Board,  a  final  sign  of 
partizan  depravity. 

Historian  Leupp  finds  it  necessary  to  "explain"  this 
apparent  inconsistency,  as  he  does  many  other  things  in 
his  "campaign  life"  of  Roosevelt. 

Leupp  evinces  occasional  glimmerings  of  the  fact 
(of  which  Riis  appears  wholly  oblivious),  that  there 
may  be  somewhere  abroad  in  the  land  a  different  view 
(erroneous  of  course)  of  the  Roosevelt  acts  from  that 
so  enthusiastically  held  by  himself  and  other  members 
of  the  "Tennis  Cabinet" ;  or  at  least  that  some  of  these 
acts  are  susceptible  of  being  "misjudged"  by  some  per 
verse  and  mischievous  critic.  And  so  Apologist  Leupp 
puts  forth  with  impressive  gravity  a  blanket  "explana 
tion"  of  all  suspicious  Roosevelt  acts :  His  hero,  tho' 
a  man  of  lofty  moral  concepts,  yet  has  a  saving  "prac 
tical"  side  (he  owned  to  this  himself  later,  it  will  be 
remembered),  which  invariably  rushes  in,  in  the  nick 
of  time,  to  save  his  "reform"  policies  from  running  to 
the  demnition-bow-wows  in  the  Democratic  camp. 

This  Apologist  Leupp  calls  "sacrificing  the  lesser  to 
the  larger  good," — "the  larger  good"  being  always  the 
success  of  the  Republican  party,  and  the  personal 
glorification  of  T.  Roosevelt.  The  "lesser  good"  may 
be  most  any  old  thing  which  happens  to  conflict  with 
these  laudable  ends.  Should  the  laudable  ends  them 
selves  be  at  variance, — as  has  occasionally  happened — 
why  then  the  Republican  party  becomes  the  "lesser 
good."  Whatever  goes  or  stays,  T.  Roosevelt  must 
have  personal  glory. 

Though  opinions  differ  as  to  his  "reform"  methods 
on  the  New  York  police  force,  there  is  practical  unan- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND    FABLE  5! 

imity  in  the  testimony  that  they  produced  an  awful  row 
in  the  Board.  One  writer  says :  "The  friction  became 
public,  and  discipline  suffered."  He  also  asserts  that, 
,in  the  factional  strife  engendered  by  his  methods,** 
''Roosevelt  was  driven  into  a  corner,  and  rinding  him 
self  without  support,  threw  up  his  hands.  Instead  of 
holding  on  to  the  end,  like  a  thoroughbred  fighter,  he 
quit, — like  a  fake  prize  fighter,  retired  under  fire,  and 
went  to  the  post  of  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
which  Friend  Lodge  had  in  readiness  for  him  at 
Washington." 

Needless  to  state,  this  raconteur  is  not  catalogued 
among  Mr.  Roosevelt's  admirers.  But  here  is  what 
Apologist  Leupp  says  of  that  portion  of  his  hero's  ca 
reer:  "The  result  was  disappointing.  For  in  spite  of  a 
series  of  notable  reforms,  the  influence  of  one  of  his 
colleagues  blocked  so  many  of  his  projects  for  im 
provement,  that  he  was  glad  of  the  chance  afforded  by 
President  McKinley's  election  to  go  to  Washington  as 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy." 

Which  may,  after  all,  be  only  another  way  of  stating 
the  same  fact. 

In  his  "Roosevelt  and  the  Republic,"  John  W.  Ben 
nett  does  not  lavish  praise  upon  Mr.  Roosevelt,  tho'  he 
exonerates  him  from  any  taint  of  "dollar  lust,"  and 
says  he  might  have  served  his  country  better  in  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in  beating  off  the  rapa 
cious  and  conscienceless  naval  constructors  who  beset 
the  Government  at  that  time,  than  by  the  most  signal 
gallantry  on  the  battle-field:  "A  man  of  stern  integrity 
in  financial  matters,  such  as  Roosevelt  undoubtedly  is, 
was  sorely  needed  right  there  to  fight  American 
ghouls,  rather  than  Spanish  soldiers.  .  .  .  There 
were  plenty  of  volunteers  to  fight  the  Spaniards  in  the 
field,  few  to  fight  the  grafters  at  home." 

As  to  how  well  the  Assistant-Secretary  deserved  this 


52  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

encomium  from  his  sometime  unsparing  critic,  as  well 
as  to  his  methods  of  "beating-off"  the  pirates  with 
ships  to  sell,  we  learn  from  Leupp's  "campaign  life," 
see  pp.  107-110.  With  much  explanatory  preamble, 
and  apologies  on  the  side,  Leupp  gives  in  detail,  a  dra 
matic  incident  in  the  office  of  the  Assistant  Secretary, 
when  he  one  day  surprised  him  in  the  act  of  excoriat 
ing  an  attorney  for  one  of  these  rascally  naval  con 
tractors.  Leupp  would  have  beat  a  hasty  retreat,  but  a 
signal  from  his  chief,  rooted  him  to  the  spot,  and  made 
him  an  involuntary  witness  of  the  verbal  storm.  The 
attorney  was  told  in  thunderous  tones  that  he  "ought 
to  be  ashamed  of  himself  to  come  there  day  after  day, 
offering  his  worthless  craft  to  the  Government  in  its 
time  of  need,"  and  letting  fly  a  few  more  fulminating 
bolts,  the  chief  actor  in  the  one-act  farce  conclued 
wrathfully:  "No!  I  don't  want  any  more  of  your  old 
tubs.  The  one  I  bought  yesterday  is  good  for  nothing 
except  to  sink  somewhere  in  the  path  of  the  enemy's 
fleet.  It  will  be  God's  mercy  if  she  doesn't  go  down 
with  brave  men  on  her — men  who  go  to  war  and  risk 
their  lives,  instead  of  staying  home  to  sell  rotten  hulks 
to  the  Government!" 

Then  after  the  naval  grafter  had  crawled  through 
the  small  hole  adapted  to  his  shrivelled  dimensions,  the 
facile  actor  turns  toward  his  admiring  audience  with 
a  beaming  smile:  "You  came  just  in  time,"  he  cried. 
(To  be  sure,  just  in  time  to  give  it  a  write-up.)  "I 
wanted  you  to  hear  what  I  had  to  say  to  that  fellow; 
not  that  it  would  add  materially  to  your  pleasure,  but 
that  it  would  humiliate  him  to  have  anyone  else  present 
while  I  gave  him  his  punishment.  It  is  the  only  way 
I  have  of  getting  even!" 

This  incident  illustrates  to  a  dot  the  quality  of  the 
Roosevelt  "reforms."  He  "got  even"  with  the  naval 
grafter  with  a  verbal  castigation,  even  while  confessing 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  53 

to  him  that  he  had  bought  his  "rotten  hulks,"  and  as 
both  he  and  the  naval  grafter  knew — he  intended  to 
buy  others,  and  to  pay  the  price  demanded,  after  he 
had  satisfied  his  melodramatic  instincts  with  this  child 
ish  rodomontade.  His  responsibility  to  the  Govern 
ment,  and  to  the  American  sailors  whose  lives  he  was 
jeopardizing  on  these  worthless  ships,  does  not  appear 
to  have  weighed  on  him  greatly. 

Apologist  Leupp  says,  "It  was  the  best  he  could  do" ; 
that,  if  he  had  refused  these  insecure  and  high-priced 
boats,  "Heaven  only  knew  where  any  good  ones  were 
coming  from  to  take  their  places  (immediately).  .  .  . 
He  was  not  the  man  to  waste  much  time  figuring  on 
the  consequences.  .  .  .  The  one  fact  which  stared 
him  in  the  face  was  that  the  Government  must  have 
coalers,  and  right  away !" 

Ah!  Here  is  the  Senegambian  in  the  Roosevelt- 
Leupp  puzzle  picture.  For  the  Assistant-Secretary  to 
have  adopted  the  resolute  and  obviously  proper  course 
of  refusing  this  worthless  craft,  and  of  holding  the 
whole  grafting  horde  up  to  public  scorn  until  they 
were  forced  to  furnish  better  ships,  would  have  de 
layed  the  war  with  Spain,  in  which  Roosevelt  thirsted 
to  bear  a  spectacular  part.  According  to  his  biogra 
phers,  he  had  done  much  "to  bring  the  Cuban  contro 
versy  to  a  head";  he  admits  it  himself  with  com 
mendable  modesty,  and  now  his  martial  spirit,  aroused 
to  fever-pitch,  would  brook  no  delay. 

In  his  view,  the  all-important  thing  was  to  rush  the 
war  with  Spain.  All  other  considerations  were  sec 
ondary.  Here  again,  he  is  subordinating  "the  lesser 
to  the  larger  good."  The  "lesser  good"  in  this  case 
was  the  honor  of  the  American  Government;  protec 
tion  to  American  sailors ;  and  justice  to  American  tax 
payers.  All  these  were  ruthlessly,  but  justifiably  sac 
rificed  to  the  "larger  good"  of  gratifying  Mr.  Roose- 


54  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

velt's  military  spirit,  and  subserving  his  personal  am 
bitions  ! 

The  author  of  "Roosevelt  and  the  Republic"  scores 
somewhat  in :  "When  men  and  nations  stand  up  to  be 
judged  before  some  higher,  more  clear-sighted  civili 
zation  of  the  future,  the  part  played  by  many  American 
newspapers  and  public  officers  in  forcing  a  war  with 
Spain,  will  not  be  a  subject  of  highest  praise."  How 
much  of  this  "praise"  or  condemnation  of  the  future 
should  go  to  Mr.  Roosevelt,  may  not  be  determined 
with  exactitude.  As  is  generally  conceded,  he  was  a 
"very  busy"  Assistant-Secretary.  During  the  frequent 
and  prolonged  absences  of  Secretary  Long,  the  nomi 
nal  head  of  the  Navy  Department,  Roosevelt  was  in 
entire  charge.  We  all  know  what  it  means  when  Mr. 
Roosevelt  "takes  charge"  of  things;  there  must  be  ac 
tion  of  some  sort.  If  it  were  he  who  sent  the  Maine  on 
her  foolish  and  fateful  errand  into  Cuban  waters,  there 
should  be  no  difficulty  in  gauging  his  responsibility  for 
the  war. 

Even  now,  ten  years  from  the  date  of  the  conflict, 
without  waiting  for  the  light  of  a  future  civilization, 
there  is  a  growing  conviction  that,  that  "glorious  war 
for  humanity,"  was  neither  so  glorious  nor  so  humane 
as  it  once  appeared.  Even  now,  some  of  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  admirers  regret  the  premature  haste  of  biogra 
phers  in  claiming  so  much  credit  for  his  efforts  in 
"bringing  it  to  a  head."  True,  it  made  him  governor 
of  New  York,  according  to  Leupp,  and  that,  in 
Leupp's  and  Roosevelt's  view,  was  subserving  "the 
larger  good." 

It  is  recorded  that  when  Governor  Roosevelt  sent 
his  first  message  to  the  Legislature,  "New  Yorkers 
blinked,  rubbed  their  eyes,  and  blinked  again.  Had 
they  after  all  elected  Roosevelt  President?  Or  had 
New  York  over  night  become  an  independent  nation? 


KOOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  55 

For  the  message  congratulated  the  PEOPLE  OF 
NEW  YORK  on  carrying  to  a  successful  conclusion 
'one  of  the  most  righteous  wars  of  modern  times !' ' 

This  first  message  likewise  ran  the  whole  gamut  of 
righteous  legislation  which  the  new  governor  wanted 
enacted  at  once.  He  ordered  an  investigation  of  the 
Canal  scandal,  and  that  there  might  be  no  suspicion 
of  bad  faith,  he  commissioned  two  Democratic  law 
yers,  Messrs.  McFarlane  and  Fox,  to  conduct  the  in 
vestigation.  The  lawyers  reported  crookedness  a 
plenty,  but  for  technical  reasons,  clear  only  to  the  pro 
fession,  the  offenders  could  not  be  prosecuted.  In  the 
end,  no  Canal  thieves  were  punished.  The  story  of 
the  State  Trust  Co.  investigation  will  be  told  else 
where.  He  dismissed  Lou  Payn,  whose  administration 
of  the  office  of  Insurance  Commissioner  had  been  no 
toriously  scandalous,  but  permitted  him  to  go  un 
scathed,  and  permitted  Platt  to  name  his  successor.  He 
revived  and  placed  upon  the  statute-book  the  civil  ser 
vice  law  passed  by  Cleveland  and  scuttled  by  Black. 
He  also  advocated  the  Ford  Franchise  law,  a  measure 
to  tax  the  big  corporations  introduced  by  Senator  Ford, 
and  characterized  as  a  "mild  reform,  but  a  step  in 
the  right  direction." 

Some  progress  was  also  made  in  dealing  with  labor 
problems,  and  tenement  conditions,  but  the  extent  of 
the  Roosevelt  achievements  in  his  administration  of 
the  governorship,  may  be  inferred  from  the  following 
summary  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  usually  a  very 
friendly  critic  of  Roosevelt: 

"His  position  at  the  beginning  of  his  term  was  ex 
ceedingly  strong,  and  he  might  have  made  it  impreg 
nable.  Doubtless  he  has  meant  to  do  so,  but  he  has  not 
succeeded.  He  has  rendered  himself  liable  to  attacks 
which  it  will  not  be  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to 
repel,  and  is  now  forced  to  admit  that  he  needs  an 
other  term  to  finish  the  work  which  his  own  indiscre- 


56  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE 

tions  have  made  unnecessarily  difficult.  ...  In  case 
his  desire  for  re-election  is  gratified,  we  shall  hope  to 
see  him  grow  to  the  full  stature  befitting  a  great 
office."  .  .  . 

And  the  rest  of  the  "Roosevelt-Reform"  legends,  are 
they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  T.  Roose 
velt,  President  of  the  United  States? 


ELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  57 


CHAPTER  V. 

COURT   FAVORITES. 

There  is  a  traditional  idea,  gathered  from  the  his 
tories  of  dissolute  European  kings,  that  it  is  a  final 
and  fatal  sign  of  weakness  in  a  ruler,  to  be  swayed  in 
his  executive  acts  by  considerations  of  personal  favorit 
ism.  Charles  I.  of  England,  and  Louis  XVI.  of 
France  lost  their  heads  through  the  baleful  influence  of 
court  favorites.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  as  ruler  and  re 
former,  has  frequently  "lost  his  head" — metaphorically 
— in  cases  involving  the  promotion  or  protection  of  his 
personal  favorites,  but  the  American  people  have  not 
yet  acquired  the  habit  of  visiting  even  political  decapi 
tation  upon  such  rulers. 

The  first  "court  favorite"  to  turn  aside  "the  strong 
lance  of  justice"  in  the  Roosevelt  armory  was  Elihu 
Root,  one  time  Secretary  of  War,  now  Secretary  of 
State,  and  at  the  time  Roosevelt  was  enacting  the  role 
of  "Reform  Governor"  of  New  York.  Root  was  also 
one  of  the  directors  of  the  New  York  State  Trust 
Company,  a  flourishing  and  outwardly  impeccable 
banking  establishment.  In  January,  1900,  Mr.  Kling 
of  New  York  presented  to  the  Governor  a  grave  and 
specific  indictment  of  the  management  of  this  State 
Trust  Company,  and  asked  for  the  appointment  of  a 
commission  to  investigate  the  Company's  affairs. 
These  charges,  if  true,  were  enough  to  send  the  whole 
board  of  directors  to  the  penitentiary  for  long  terms. 

The  Governor  was  much  moved  by  these  revela 
tions,  and  declared  he  must  know  all  the  facts.  He 


58        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

appointed  former  Adjutant-General  Avery  D.  Andrews 
of  New  York  City  as  a  special  investigy.or  in  the  mat 
ter,  with  instructions  to  "go  to  the  bottom  of  it,  no 
matter  whom  it  might  affect." 

Charles  Edward  Russell,  who  wrote  an  account  of 
the  incident,  says : 

"The  State  Trust  matter  properly  belonged  to  the 
official  care  of  H.  P.  Kilburn,  Superintendent  of  the 
State  Banking  Department.  For  some  reason  not  offi 
cially  disclosed,  the  Governor  totally  ignored  Mr.  Kil 
burn.  .  .  .  Whereupon  Mr.  Kilburn  started  an  in 
vestigation  of  his  own."  .  .  . 

New  York  newspapers,  taking  the  scent,  conducted 
a  third. 

General  Andrews  finished  first.  His  appointment 
was  telegraphed  him  on  Jan.  i2th,  and  he  began  work 
on  the  1 3th.  His  investigation  lasted  less  than  five 
hours.  Then  he  ceased  his  labors  and  returned  two 
documents.  One  was  a  report  of  what  he  had  found, 
and  the  other  a  letter  asking  to  be  relieved  from  fur 
ther  research  into  the  matter.  .  .  .  Gen.  Andrews 
was  relieved  according  to  his  request.  No  one  was  ap 
pointed  in  his  place;  his  report  was  locked  up  in  Al 
bany;  and  Supt.  Kilburn's  report  coming  in  shortly 
afterward,  that,  too,  was  consigned  to  oblivion.  .  .  . 

In  spite  of  all  demands,  the  government  refused  to 
make  either  public,  to  give  any  idea  of  the  contents  of 
either,  or  to  take  any  action  on  either.  .  .  .  On  March 
12  the  New  York  World  managed  to  secure  in  some 
way  a  copy  of  the  Kilburn  report  (so  sedulously  sup 
pressed  at  Albany),  and  published  it  practically  in 
full.  .  .  .  The  country  gasped  at  the  official  con 
firmation  it  contained  of  the  worst  charges  made  by 
Kling,  or  hinted  at  by  the  newspapers.  There  seemed 
no  longer  a  chance  to  doubt  that  the  official  investiga 
tion  had  been  muzzled  because  of  the  prominence  of 
the  persons  involved,  who  now  stood  forth  in  the  white 
light,  painfully  conspicuous.  They  were: — 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  59 

_        ->  .       ** 

"Elihu  Root,  then  Secretary  of  War, 

"John  W.  Griggs,  then  Attorney- General  of  U.  S., 

"Thomas  F.  Ryan, 

"William  C.  Whitney,  et  al.,  who  were  convicted  by 
the  evidence  of  making  illegal  loans  to  dummies,  poli 
ticians,  and  directors.  Lou  F.  Payn,  Insurance  Com 
missioner,  was  one  of  the  men  to  profit  by  the  crooked 
ness  to  the  extent  of  more  than  $400,000. 

"Elihu  Root  negotiated  a  loan  to  the  dummy  office 
boy." 

Secretary  Root  has  been  the  brains  of  the  Roosevelt 
Administration.  His  cool,  guiding  hand  has  toned 
down  many  a  spectacular  performance,  and  licked 
"my  policies"  into  some  semblance  of  statesmanship. 

It  was  Root  who  explained  with  lawyer-like  pa 
tience,  that  certain  jingo  demonstrations  were  "acts  of 
war,"  and  when  the  threatened  collision  was  with  a 
first-class  power,  it  was  Root  who  pointed  the  way  to 
a  graceful  back-down.  With  the  exception  of  Hay, 
Root,  Taft,  Hitchcock,  and  Wilson,  whom  he  inherited 
from  McKinley — the  men  whom  President  Roosevelt 
has  collected  about  him,  have  been  of  the  garden  vari 
ety, — these  being  the  fittest  instruments  to  execute  the 
Strenuous  will.  It  is  not  every  Cabinet  officer  who  will 
permit  a  President  to  use  him  as  a  messenger  boy,  see 
Historian  Leupp's  explanation  of  Secretary  Gage's 
resignation  from  the  Treasury  Department,  pages 
73-74.  Leupp  likewise  gives  the  superfluous  informa 
tion  (p.  58)  :  "With  Mr.  Roosevelt  the  counsel  of 
valued  associates  is  always  welcome,  but  his  decisions 
he  prefers  to  make  himself." 

Whoever  imagined  Mr.  Roosevelt  following  any 
man's  lead?  Perish  the  unworthy  thought!  But  if 
Roosevelt  has  used  Root,  the  service  has  been  mutual. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  favorites  of  the  Roose 
velt  regime  is  General  Leonard  Wood,  the  military 
governor  of  the  Moro  country  in  the  Philippines.  His- 


6O  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND  FABLE 

torian  Leupp  testifies:  "Wood's  advancement  from  a 
captain's  grade  in  the  army  medical  service  to  a  full 
major-generalcy  in  five  years,  is  perhaps  the  most  re 
markable  recorded  in  our  day,"  and  Leupp  ascribes 
Wood's  good  fortune  in  large  measure  to  Roosevelt's 
grateful  recollection  of  the  important  part  Wood 
played  in  making  him  the  commander  of  the  Rough 
Riders.  When  on  August  8,  1903,  Roosevelt  raised 
Wood  to  the  rank  of  Major-General  over  the  heads  of 
many  older  and  more  worthy  aspirants,  there  was  a 
storm  of  angry  protest  from  many  quarters.  Brig.- 
Gen.  Thos.  M.  Anderson,  commenting  in  the  Inde 
pendent,  says: 

"Wood  has  been  promoted  over  67  officers  of  cav 
alry,  66  of  artillery,  and  150  of  infantry.  He  has  also 
passed  over  27  adjutant-generals,  16  inspector-gen 
erals,  35  quartermasters,  n  judge-advocates,  27  com 
missaries,  27  paymasters,  49  engineers,  and  8  of  the 
ordinance.  Lastly,  but  not  least,  he  has  jumped  over 
70  of  his  own  corps.  In  all,  596  of  higher  rank  and 
longer  experience  passed  over  in  five  years !  This 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  in  our  generation  the 
scalpel  is  mightier  than  the  sword." 

When  the  Senate  was  asked  to  confirm  Wood's  ap 
pointment  in  December,  1903,  they  were  at  the  same 
time  confronted  with  certain  charges  against  him, 
which  a  committee  was  appointed  to  investigate.  And 
these  were  the  accusations  pointed  at  the  confirmation 
of  Leonard  Wood  as  Major-General: 

I.  That  he  never  had  any  military  experience,  but 
was  merely  a  regimental  doctor ;  II.  that  he  performed 
no  military  services  of  special  distinction  and  merit 
during  the  Cuban  campaign,  and  was  made  a  briga 
dier-general  through  personal  and  political  influence; 
III.  that  he  won  his  place  as  governor-general  of  Cuba 
by  intrigue  and  undermining  his  superiors.  Letters 
between  Major  Runcie  and  Wood  were  produced, 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  6 1 

showing  connivance  with  Runcie  to  attack  General 
Brooke,  and  subsequent  mean  abandonment  of  Runcie ; 
IV.  that  he  put  his  relatives  in  positions  of  financial 
profit  in  Cuba,  and  was  open  to  the  suspicion  of 
making  financial  profit  himself;  V.  that  he  granted  a 
ten-years'  concession  to  the  Jai  Alai  Co.,  a  notorious 
gambling  establishment  in  Havana,  for  a  material  if 
not  a  corrupt  consideration." 

This  last  charge  was  preferred  by  Bishop  Canler  of 
Atlanta,  Ga. 

Senator  Henry  M.  Teller,  speaking  in  the  U.  S.  Sen 
ate  Dec.  8,  1903,  charged  Gen.  Wood  with  having 
maintained  a  lobby  at  Washington  in  the  interest  of 
the  Cuban  reciprocity  treaty, — a  measure  designed  to 
benefit  the  Sugar  Trust  and  injure  American  sugar 
growers,  a  measure  which  Senator  Carmack  wittily 
characterized  as  "combining  the  attractions  of  a  bar 
gain-counter  and  a  missionary-box ;  a  rare  opportunity 
to  serve  God  and  get  your  money  back," — according 
to  its  advocates.  Senator  Teller  stated  that  he  ai?d 
other  senators  were  in  receipt  of  letters  from  the  Gov 
ernor-General  of  Cuba,  in  the  interest  of  this  legisla 
tion,  further  affirming:  "A  more  indefensible  thing 
for  an  army  officer  to  do,  could  not  be  conceived  of.  I 
venture  to  say  that  under  ordinary  circumstances,  any 
officer  who  would  write  such  a  letter,  would  be 
cashiered."  Senator  Teller  also  charged  that  Gov 
ernor-General  Wood,  commencing  in  September,  1901, 
had  sent  out  letters  and  telegrams  to  the  alcaldes  of 
the  different  towns  in  Cuba,  urging  them  to  demand 
concessions  of  this  character. 

The  demand  in  reality  came  from  American  owners 
of  sugar  lands  in  Cuba,  who  were  also  members  of  the 
Sugar  Trust. 

Whatever  the  findings  of  the  Senate  committee  as 
to  these  accusations  against  President  Roosevelt's  pet 
army  officer, — it  is  not  difficult  to  guess  what  they 


62  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE 

found  when  they  knew  whom  they  had  to  please  in  the 
findings — Leonard  Wood  vaulted  lightly  over  the 
heads  of  the  battle-scarred  veterans,  and  landed  in  the 
Moro  country  with  his  title  of  Major-General  securely 
fastened  to  his  coat-collar,  and  with  the  additional  title 
of  Military  Governor  of  the  islands. 

Historic  precedent  and  parallel  are  not  wanting  for 
this  act  of  favoritism.  It  is  said  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough  owed  his  first  advancement  to  the  questionable 
influence  of  his  sister,  Arabella.  Napoleon  received 
the  command  of  the  army  of  Italy  because  Barras  ap 
proved  his  marriage  to  the  widow  Beauharnais.  But 
the  favoritism  shown  Napoleon  and  Marlborough 
found  justification  in  their  great  military  careers. 

General  Wood  has  not  yet  given  proof  of  great  mili 
tary  capacity,  either  before  or  since  his  promotion.  If 
the  standard  of  military  historians  be  accepted,  that  nc 
engagement  in  which  the  loss  is  less  than  100,  shall  be 
rated  as  a  battle — Wood  never  commanded  even  a 
brigade  in  battle.  But  his  critics  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  Gen.  Wood  had  enjoyed  the  advantage  of  putting 
T.  Roosevelt  through  his  first  military  paces, — a  privi 
lege  denied  to  Marlborough  and  Napoleon — and  what 
are  mere  battles  in  comparison  with  this  great  and  sig 
nal  distinction? 

Francis  B.  Loomis  was  Assistant-Secretary  of  State 
when  John  Hay,  by  reason  of  illness,  was  much  ab 
sent,  and  the  first  duties  of  the  office  frequently  de 
volved  upon  Loomis.  When  that  brilliant  Panama 
coup  was  executed, — whereby  we  gained  not  only  an 
immediate  permit  to  "dig  the  ditch"  between  the 
oceans,  but  likewise  came  into  possession  of  some  very 
valuable  machinery  belonging  to  the  French  Panama 
Company  who  had  abandoned  the  enterprise,  and  all 
for  the  trifling  sum  of  $50,000,000, — a  mere  bagatelle, 
— it  was  Loomis  who  in  an  interesting  address  before 
the  New  York  Quill  Club,  defended  the  "irregular" 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  63 

method  of  acquiring  the  right  of  way  across  the  Pan 
ama  strip,  and  loudly  extolled  the  President's  course. 
In  the  language  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  G.  Ely  the,  Loo  mis 
is  reported  as  "handing  out  a  nifty  line  of  language" 
on  this  occasion.  He  represented  President  Roosevelt 
as  "peering  into  the  future"  and  seeing  the  consum 
mation  of  "this  great  world  enterprise"  by  his  own 
hand,  naturally,  he  was  attracted  by  the  vision.  An 
irreverent  critic  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  remarked  at  the 
time,  that,  had  the  President  "peered  into  the  law"  as 
studiously  as  Mr.  Loomis  says  he  "peered  into  the  fu 
ture,"  he  might  have  found  a  shorter  as  well  as  a  more 
honorable  Canal  route  across  Nicaragua;  and  some 
other  disgruntled  folk  have  remarked  since,  that  the 
whole  trouble  with  this  inter-oceanic  Canal  is,  that  it 
seems  to  be  a  continuous  process  of  "peering  into  the 
future" — like  Pope's  "man  who  never  is,  but  always 
to  be  blest."  But  this  is  a  digression.  Assistant-Sec 
retary  Loomis,  in  this  "interesting"  address,  quieted  all 
scruples,  and  made  the  whole  Panama  transaction 
smooth  and  fair  to  the  minds  of  the  American  people. 
And  when  this  same  Assistant-Secretary  Loomis  later 
became  involved  in  an  embarrassing  complication  with 
the  Asphalt  Trust  and  the  Venezuelan  government, 
Roosevelt  was  not  the  man  to  desert  a  friend  in  need. 

It  appears  that  adventurous  foreigners  have  for 
years  been  going  into  the  Central  and  South  American 
States,  and  securing  "concessions"  from  some  incom 
petent  or  corrupt  officials  of  their  governments  to 
pretty  nearly  everything  worth  having  in  the  way  of 
natural  wealth  in  those  countries.  Then  these  rascally 
foreigners  go  home  and  "capitalize"  these  concessions, 
and  then  the  trouble  begins.  Americans  had  also  been 
in  this  concession-hunting  business.  Back  in  the  eigh 
ties,  Horatio  R.  Hamilton  of  New  York  had  secured 
asphalt,  timber,  and  navigation  "concessions"  from 
somebody  in  temporary  control  in  Venezuela,  promis- 


64  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND   FABLE 

ing  in  return  certain  navigable  and  other  improve 
ments  in  Venezuelan  territory,  and  then  proceeded  to 
"capitalize"  his  Venezuelan  holdings  in  the  United 
States. 

There  was  no  pretense  of  carrying  out  the  stipula 
tions  involving  outlay  by  Hamilton  or  his  assignees, 
but  the  asphalt  mine  proved  more  lucrative  than  a  gold 
mine  to  the  American  stockholders.  Miles  of  city 
streets  were  paved  from  it,  by  aldermen  willing  to  pay 
good  prices. 

The  Barber  Asphalt  Co.,  the  General  Asphalt  Co., 
the  New  York  and  Bermudez  Asphalt  Co., — all  differ 
ent  names  for  the  same  asphalt  combine — were  flour 
ishing  like  green  bay  trees,  when  the  plucky  little 
Venezuelan  President,  Castro,  decided  he  would  put  a 
stop  to  this  wholesale  plundering  of  his  people,  and 
started  a  suit  for  the  annulment  of  the  franchise. 

The  success  of  this  suit  would  accomplish  two  re 
sults  not  at  all  approved  by  the  Trust.  American  cit 
ies  might  get  cheaper  pavements,  and  Venezuelans 
might  get  some  benefit  of  their  own  natural  resources. 

The  story  of  this  affair  is  well  told  in  Bennett's 
"Roosevelt  and  the  Republic,"  pp.  186-90:  "Those 
patriotic  gentlemen  of  asphalt  fame  who  had  been  see 
ing  to  it  that  American  municipalities  paid  $3  a  square 
yard  for  paving  worth  $1.50,  now  invaded  Washing 
ton  to  prevent  their  labors  from  being  undone.  Lob 
bies  were  organized  about  the  State  and  other  depart 
ments.  Newspapers  scored  Castro.  Statesmen  de 
nounced  Castro.  He  was  ambitious,  self-seeking, 
crooked,  bent  upon  holding  up  saintly  foreigners  and 
despoiling  them.  His  country  was  going  to  the  dogs ; 
he  was  about  to  be  overthrown.  There  was  a  terrible 
state  of  affairs  in  Venezuela.  .  .  .  Castro  stuck  to 
his  text.  The  suit  for  annulment  went  serenely  for 
ward.  If  the  conceSvSionaires  had  a  claim,  let  them 
press  it  in  the  courts  of  Venezuela.  The  concession 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND    FABLE  6$ 

rested  upon  Venezuelan  governmental  authority ;  its  in 
terpretation  should  certainly  rest  there  also.  Castro 
was  at  the  head  of  a  sovereign  nation,  the  same  sover 
eign  nation  which  was  recognized  when  the  concession 
was  accepted.  No  objection  was  then  made  to  the  au 
thority  of  Venezuela's  government.  Then  it  was  giv 
ing  away  the  heritage  of  the  Venezuelan  people.  Now 
that  the  Venezuelan  government  was  trying  to  reclaim 
that  heritage  for  its  people,  it  would  hear  no  question 
ing  of  its  authority.  Castro's  position  was  unimpeach 
able.  He  had  justice  and  law,  too,  upon  his  side.  .  .  . 
Then  came  forward  that  pure  and  ingenuous  public 
servant,  Assistant-Secretary  of  State  Francis  B. 
Loomis,  one  of  the  high-minded  men  whom  President 
Roosevelt  delighted  to  honor,  and  suggested  that  Cas 
tro  arbitrate.  Castro  was  barely  polite.  The  courts  of 
Venezuela  were  open.  American  concessionaires 
would  get  all  they  were  entitled  to,  no  more.  .  .  . 
Faithfully  did  the  State  Department  stand  by  the 
Asphalt  Trust.  Diligently,  with  Francis  B.  Loomis  as 
spokesman,  did  the  Administration  at  Washington 
labor  to  preserve  to  the  Asphalt  Trust  its  monopoly  of 
the  paving  material  most  favored  in  American  cities. 
.  .  .  The  situation  became  critical  when  Castro  ap 
pointed  a  receiver  for  the  New  York  and  Bermudez 
Co.,  and  the  receiver  was  mining  asphalt  and  placing 
it  on  American  markets  in  competition  with  the  Trust. 
...  So  insistently  did  the  State  Department  urge  and 
threaten,  that  it  brought  out  a  protest  from  the  Ameri 
can  minister  in  Venezuela,  Herbert  W.  Bowen.  He 
said  he  could  not  properly  exert  such  pressure  for  the 
concessionaires,  that  their  cause  lacked  righteousness. 
Besides,  he  was  embarrassed  by  the  fact  that  the  for 
mer  American  minister  to  Venezuela  (Mr.  Loomis), 
and  the  then  Assistant-Secretary  of  State,  his  superior, 
had,  when  in  Venezuela,  openly  pressed  against  the 
Venezuelan  government  claims  in  which  he  (Loomis) 


66        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

had  a  pecuniary  interest.  He  had  used  his  position  for 
private  gain.  .  .  .  All  this  had  injured  the  standing 
of  America's  representative  in  Venezuela,  &c.,  &c." 

Naturally  enough,  this  protest  from  the  American 
minister,  falling  into  the  hands  of  Loomis,  who  was 
practically  head  of  the  State  Department,  was  not 
given  to  the  public.  On  the  other  hand,  the  things  he 
required  of  the  minister  became  more  and  more  galling, 
until  Bowen  could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  being  unable 
to  make  any  impression  on  the  State  Department,  he 
resolved  to  appeal  to  the  American  people.  He  gave 
the  story  of  the  whole  unsavory  mess  to  the  New  York 
Herald  which  printed  it  in  full.  The  country  will  re 
member  the  storm  which  burst  on  Bowen's  head.  Ben 
nett  thus  describes  it:  ''Minister  Bowen  was  angrily 
recalled  by  the  man  whom  he  had  accused.  Hot  with 
indignation,  Bowen  came.  Secretary  Taft,  the  general 
utility  man  of  the  Roosevelt  administration,  was  as 
signed  to  apply  the  white-wash.  The  big  Secretary 
gave  the  white  coat  to  Francis  B.  Loomis.  It  seemed 
as  agreeable  to  him.  as  a  dose  of  wormwood,  but  it  was 
done  heroically.  Mr.  Taft  has  never  balked  yet  at  a 
job  set  for  him  by  the  'Dutch  Uncle/  whose  heir-ex 
pectant  he  is.  ...  Shades  were  pretty  dark  for  the 
thickest  coat  of  white- wash — but  it  sufficed.  .  .  .  Hot 
in  the  anger  of  an  honest  man,  Minister  Bowen  went 
before  the  President  and  offered  to  prove  his  charges 
to  the  satisfaction  of  a  disinterested  person  who  might 
go  into  them.  .  .  .  That  was  not  the  point.  His 
charges  might  or  might  not  be  true.  He  was  undiplo*- 
ma-tic.  .  .  .  State  Department  iniquity  could  do  the 
Administration  no  harm  while  it  was  unknown  to  the 
public.  .  .  .  Minister  Bowen  made  it  known  to  ihe 
public.  .  .  .  He  was  obviously  a  traitor  to  the  Ad 
ministration.  .  .  .  No !  No !  there  was  no  explana 
tion.  .  .  .  He  had  violated  diplomatic  courtesy.  Pie 
had  been,  insubordinate.  Honesty  was  all  right  in  its 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  6? 

place,  but  it  was  not  in  a  class  with  courtesy,  and  sub 
ordination  in  an  Administration  that  was  absolutely 
above  suspicion!  Minister  Bowen  was  officially 
branded  as  an  Ananias,  Roosevelt  himself  giving  the 
mud  bath.  .  .  .  Bowen,  who  mingled  too  much  blunt 
and  straightforward  honesty  with  his  diplomatic  tact, 
retired  from  the  service  in  disgrace.  .  .  .  Loornis 
was  promoted  to  a  ministry  and  permitted  later  to  drop 
silently  out  of  sight." 

Similar  to  this,  though  not  quite  so  flagrant,  was  the 
favoritism  displayed  in  the  case  of  Hon.  Paul  Morton, 
one-time  vice-president  and  traffic  manager  of  the 
Atcheson,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Railway  Company, 
and  in  1904-05  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in  President 
Roosevelt's  Cabinet. 

Morton  had  not,  like  Loomis  and  Wood,  rendered 
such  conspicuous  personal  service  to  his  chief,  and  was 
not  rightfully  entitled  to  the  same  consideration.  He 
was,  moreover,  the  son  of  a  prominent  Democrat,  a 
member  of  Cleveland's  Cabinet;  and  tho'  he  himself 
had  sought  to  avert  the  consequences  of  his  father's 
sin  by  joining  the  Republican  party,  and  tho'  Demo 
cratic  affiliation  was  never  a  bar  sinister  to  Roose- 
veltian  favor  when  the  said  Democrats  could  serve 
Rooseveltian  ends,  it  was  obviously  a  handicap.  Sec 
retary  Morton,  therefore,  could  only  claim  such  im 
munity  as  is  freely  extended  to  all  those  about  the 
Strenuous  person  who  are  obedient  to  the  Strenuous 
will.  This,  however,  was  sufficient  to  hide  Mr.  Morton 
in  the  day  of  his  threatened  calamity,  when  the  Sher 
man  Anti-trust  law  arose  and  pointed  an  accusing  rin 
ger  at  him. 

On  Jan.  9,  1905,  one  of  those  impertinent  Demo 
crats  who  ever  and  anon  disturb  the  placid  current  of 
Republican  equanimity,  arose  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  and  offered  the  following  "Resolution  of 
Inquiry  Relative  to  Hon.  Paul  Morton:  Whereas  the 


6&  ROOSEVELTIAN    PACT   AND    FABLE 

traffic  manager  of  the  Atcheson,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe 
Ry.  Co.,  gave  evidence  on  Dec.  29,  1904,  before  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  showing  that  said 
railroad  did  on,  and  after  Aug.  19,  1902,  grant  secret 
rebates  to  the  Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Co.,  said  re 
bates,  according  to  the  Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  amount 
ing  to  $400,000;  and  whereas  it  is  claimed,  that  the 
effect  of  this  secret  rebate  was  to  bankrupt  certain 
competitors;  and  whereas  the  head  of  the  traffic  de 
partment  of  said  railroad  during  the  time  this  secret 
rebate  was  allowed,  was  the  present  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  the  Hon.  Paul  Morton,  who  is  reported  as  de 
fending  the  granting  of  said  rebate,  Resolved:  I.  That 
the  Attorney-General  be  requested  to  inform  this 
House  whether  the  act  of  Mr.  Paul  Morton  in  allow 
ing  the  said  rebate  to  the  Col.  Fuel  and  Iron  Co.  is  not 
in  flagrant  violation  of  law,  and  what  steps  if  any  have 
been  taken  to  prosecute  him  criminally  for  said  act. 
II.  That  this  House  respectfully  asks  the  President 
whether  it  is  in  harmony  with  his  message  of  Decem 
ber  6th,  wherein  he  declares  it  is  necessary  to  put  a 
complete  stop  to  all  rebates,  and  also  conductive  to  the 
public  interests,  to  retain  Mr.  Morton  as  Secretary  of 
the  Navy." 

Then  up-rose  that  great  head  of  the  Judiciary  Com 
mittee,  and  devoted  friend  of  Temperance,  Hon.  John 
J.  Jenkins  of  Wisconsin,  and  promptly  "moved  that 
both  these  resolutions  be  laid  on  the  table,"  and  the 
thing  was  done.  It  is  seldom  that  a  partizan  majority 
fails  to  respond  to  a  call  of  that  kind.  Too  much 
publicity  had  been  given  the  affair,  however,  to  make  it 
easy  for  a  "trust-busting"  President  to  ignore  it  en 
tirely,  and  with  his  usual  flourisji  of  trumpets  he  or 
dered  an  "investigation"  of  the  Honorable  Paul's  guilt. 
After  that,  there  were  some  occasional  references  in 
the  press  to  the  "Judson-Harmon  report,"  which  was 
returned,  but  never  divulged.  It  sleeps  with  the  re- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  69 

port  of  that  New  York  State  Trust  Company  investi 
gation,  and  like  that,  may  some  day  be  available  to  the 
"future  historian."  Mr.  Morton  remained  in  President 
Roosevelt's  Cabinet  until  he  got  ready  to  retire,  June 
30,  1905,  whence  he  graduated  to  the  presidency  of  a 
big  Trust  Company,  where  the  salary  was  much  larger, 
and  the  "resolutions  of  inquiry"  much  less  annoying. 

President  Roosevelt  has  lavished  administration 
favors  upon  George  B.  Cortelyou,  having  appointed 
him  successively,  Secretary  of  the  Bureau  of  Com 
merce  and  Labor,  Postmaster-General,  and  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury. 

Some  persons  are  possessed  of  a  crude  notion  that 
experience  and  special  study  of  the  subjects  embraced 
by  the  various  executive  Departments,  are  essential  to 
the  successful  administration  of  them,  but  Mr.  Roose 
velt  knows  that  the  more  Cabinet  officers  are  shifted 
about,  the  better  they  do.  And  this  is  exemplified  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Cortelyou. 

From  the  position  of  private  secretary  to  the  Presi 
dent,  he  was  promoted  to  the  head  of  the  new  Depart 
ment  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  Having  remained  in 
this  post  long  enough  to  learn  the  state  secrets  of  the 
"close  corporations,"  Mr.  Cortelyou  was  selected  as  the 
most  available  and  effective  Manager  of  the  Roosevelt 
presidential  campaign  in  1904. 

Only  when  we  remember  the  envious  and  ill-natured 
slings  about  an  "accidental  President,"  prior  to  No 
vember,  1904,  and  how  galling  were  such  expressions 
to  a  man  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  spirit,  can  we  realize  how 
much  was  at  stake  in  this  campaign,  wherein  Cortelyou 
was  set  the  task  of  silencing  all  cavil  as  to  Roosevelt's 
"overwhelming  popularity." 

Right  royally  did  the  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
National  Committee  execute  his  mission.  Campaign 
funds  flowed  generously,  and  the  sources  of  supply 
were  carefully  concealed  from  the  prying,  vulgar 


7O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

crowd,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  Judge  Parker's 
"malicious"  charges,  to  which  no  one  of  course  paid 
any  attention  after  they  had  been  denied  by  our  virtu 
ous  President.  There  is  a  pretty  story,  circulated  in 
the  newspapers  at  the  time,  that  after  the  November 
returns  were  all  in,  the  President-elect  approached  his 
wife  with  mock,  smiling  deference,  and  the  words: 
"My  dear  Edith,  I  congratulate  you  that  you  are  no 
longer  an  accident !"  Truer  words  were  never  spoken. 
Just  how  little  of  accident  (or  freedom),  and  how 
much  of  design  entered  into  the  result  of  that  election, 
no  one  knew  better  than  Roosevelt,  except  perhaps  his 
faithful  lieutenant,  Cortelyou,  or  his  "dear  friend  Har- 
riman." 

Manager  Cortelyou  had  earned  a  promotion,  and 
stepped  with  a  sense  of  conscious  merit  into  the  posi 
tion  of  Postmaster-General.  From  this  he  mounted  to 
the  head  of  the  Treasury  Department,  to  take  charge  of 
"Uncle  Sam's  pocket-book"  just  in  time  to  help  Har- 
riman,  Morgan,  Hill,  Rockefeller,  and  a  few  more  of 
the  erstwhile  "criminally  rich,"  but  now  "substantial 
and  conservative  business  men,"  save  the  country,  not 
from  the  wicked  Democrats  this  time,  but  from  a  dis 
astrous  money-panic  which  had  the  temerity  and  the 
inopportuneness  to  happen  under  Roosevelt  rule. 

But  the  versatile  and  resourceful  Cortelyou  was 
equal  to  this  appalling  event  also.  He  issued  Panama 
bonds,  to  the  amount  of  $50,000,000,  and  deposited 
most  of  the  money  thus  raised  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  which  had  already  swallowed  up  all  the  money 
in  the  country,  giving  to  two  banks  owned  by  John  D. 
Rockefeller  in  the  City  of  New  York  alone,  the  sum  of 
$24,000,000.  Senator  Gore  of  Oklahoma  made  the 
facetious  remark  in  the  Senate  last  Spring,  that,  if 
Secretary  Cortelyou  could  only  have  spared  John  D. 
$5,000,000  more,  he  would  have  had  enough  to  pay  that 
$29,000,000  fine  he  owes  the  Government,  without 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  fl 

ous  inconvenience  to  himself.  Secretary  Cortelyou's 
next  promotion  will  no  doubt  be  as  a  high-salaried 
bank-president. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  fondness  for  William  H.  Taft, 
whom  he  has  named  in  the  presidential  succession, 
would  require  a  chapter  by  itself,  a  chapter  also  lack 
ing  the  historic  perspective  which  should  give  it  a  place 
in  this  book,  while  the  trial  is  still  in  progress  to  de 
termine  whether  Roosevelt  has  loved  Mr.  Taft  "wisely, 
or  too  well." 

A  list  of  the  Roosevelt  "court  favorites"  would  not 
be  complete,  without  mention  of  his  barber,  Wm.  B. 
Dulaney,  colored,  whom  the  President  has  recently 
placed  on  the  Government  pay-roll  as  an  "expert  ac 
countant"  in  the  office  of  the  Auditor  of  the  Navy ;  tho' 
Dulaney  performs  no  duties  in  the  office  of  his  ap 
pointment,  the  duties  of  his  nominal  position  being  per 
formed  by  the  other  Government  employees ;  and  Wil 
liam  is  only  required  to  draw  his  departmental  salary 
of  $1,600,  and  to  continue  his  tonsorial  attendance  upon 
the  President,  for  another  Government  salary.  In 
this,  Mr.  Roosevelt  demonstrates  both  his  devotion  to 
the  colored  race,  and  to  the  cause  of  Civil  Service. 
The  former,  it  seems,  should  appease  to  some  extent, 
the  wrathful  emotions  stirred  in  the  A  fro- American 
bosom  by  the  Brownsville  decree.  But  the  trouble  is, 
only  one  negro  can  serve  as  barber  to  the  President, 
whilst  there  are  so  many  negroes  who  are  mad  about 
Brownsville ! 


72  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   VI. 

ROOSEVELT,   THE   PREACHER. 

"Oh,  master !  grant  us  only  this,  we  prithee ; 
Preach  not !  but  mutely  guide  to  bless,  we  prithee ! 
We  walk  not  straight?    Nay,  'tis  thou  who  squintest 
Go  heal  thy  sight,  and  leave  us  in  peace,  we  prithee." 

— Rubaiyat. 

Concerning  a  ruler  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  many-sided 
personality,  there  must  of  necessity  exist  various,  and 
sometimes  conflicting  opinions. 

The  only  Roosevelt  trait  about  which  there  is  practi 
cal  unanimity  of  view,  with  never  a  dissenting  note,  is 
his  preaching  habit.  All  agree  on  this  point,  however 
widely  they  may  diverge  at  others.  Rooseveltian 
critics  of  every  degree,  hostile,  friendly,  serious,  jibing, 
caustic  or  gay,  can  all  rally  on  this  common  meeting- 
ground  to  hear  Roosevelt,  the  preacher. 

It  appears  to  have  been  one  of  his  earliest  developed 
tendencies.  Riis  reveals  him  to  us  teaching  a  Sunday- 
school  class  at  a  tender  age,  and  tho'  this  appears  to 
have  had  a  stormy  sequel — Riis  relating  that  he  became 
involved  in  a  row  with  the  Sunday-School  authorities, 
wherein  of  course  Roosevelt  cleaned  up  the  bunch  and 
came  off  with  flying  colors — this  only  adds  the  heroic 
touch  so  necessary  to  the  Riis  view  of  all  Rooseveltian 
performances. 

He  carried  his  preaching  habit  into  his  public  life, 
and  so  insistent  and  platitudinous  were  his  precepts, 
that  they  provoked  Thomas  Brackett  Reed's  famous 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   F^ABLE  ?3 

sarcasm,  that  what  he  "particularly  admired  about 
Roosevelt,  was  his  original  discovery  of  the  Ten  Com 
mandments."  All  his  public  addresses,  and  even  his 
state  papers  strongly  betoken  the  moral  guide  and 
ethical  teacher,  whilst  his  impressive  manner  of  drag 
ging  forth  some  old  maxim  or  well-established  truism 
and  stamping  it  with  the  bran-new  Roosevelt  O.  K., 
has  conveyed  a  wide-spread  notion  of  him  as  "a  man 
of  sensitive  moral  sense"  and  of  deep  religious  convic 
tions. 

It  was  Drummond  who  said,  "the  religious  life  of 
a  great  many  people  consists  entirely  of  religious 
phraseology,"  and  taking  this  standard,  one  easily 
comprehends  the  popular  notion  anent  Roosevelt's 
"goodness." 

His  "religious  phraseology"  has  been  more  abun 
dant  and  obtrusive  than  that  of  any  other  president  or 
public  man  the  country  has  produced, — more  even  than 
the  average  pulpit-occupant  who  is  paid  to  preach. 

Wherever  he  goes,  he  sets  up  an  impromptu  pulpit, 
and  his  pious  enunciations  fall — like  the  rain  and  sun 
shine,  upon  the  just  and  the  unjust — accompanied  with 
a  timely  warning  to  the  latter  to  look  sharp ! 

So  impressed  were  some  of  the  patriots  in  Congress 
with  the  great  value  to  the  people  of  this  movable  pres 
idential  pulpit,  that  when  the  railroads  were  restrained 
(two  years  ago)  from  their  munificent  and  indiscrimi 
nate  practice  of  handing  out  passes  to  everybody  una 
ble  to  pay  or  walk  (like  senators,  congressmen,  federal 
judges,  and  such  like  impecunious  persons,  including 
the  President  of  the  United  States),  these  congres 
sional  patriots  promptly  voted  an  additional  $25,000  a 
year  for  the  President's  "travelling  expenses,"  in  order 
that  "the  great  unwashed"  might  not  be  deprived  of 
the  privilege  of  gazing  upon  the  countenance,  and 
listening  to  the  inspired  words  of  the  Preacher. 

True,  some  one  (Representative  Underwood  of  Ala- 


74  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

bama)  pointed  out,  awkwardly  enough,  that  there  was 
a  constitutional  provision  forbidding  this  sort  of 
thing;  and  having  "the  courage  of  his  convictions"  in 
the  back  of  his  head,  and  a  copy  of  the  Constitution  in 
his  hand,  he  rose  and  read  it  to  the  astounded  and 
grieved  legislators:  Article  II.  Sec.  I.  (7)  Const.  U.  S. : 

"The  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive  for  his 
services  a  compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  in 
creased  nor  diminished  during  the  period  for  which 
he  shall  have  been  elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive 
uithin  that  period  any  other  emolument  from  the 
United  States  or  any  of  them!' 

The  Constitutional  objector  and  his  supporters  were 
promptly  overruled,  the  discussion  taking  a  non-par 
tisan  turn.  The  Hon.  Wm.  Bourke  Cockran  of  New 
York,  Bourke  the  Magnificent,  the  Oratorical,  than 
whom  no  man  living  better  knows  the  value  of  spon 
taneous  eloquence,  gave  his  voice  to  the  measure,  de 
claring  in  his  impassioned  Celtic  speech,  it  would  be  a 
shame — for  the  sake  of  a  paltry  $25,000  a  year,  to  deny 
to  the  people  the  profit  and  pleasure  of  seeing  and 
hearing  their  Chief  Magistrate. 

Mr.  Sherley  of  Kentucky  did  not  purpose  to  let  any 
small,  picayunish  notions  of  expenditure  enter  into  his 
large,  Blue-grass  liberality  towards  the  head  of  the 
Nation.  The  idea  advanced  by  some  of  the  objectors, 
that  the  Executive,  having  all  his  expenses — except 
the  food  on  his  table  and  the  clothes  on  his  back — paid 
out  of  the  public  Treasury,  might,  with  a  salary  of 
$50,000,  move  about  over  the  country  at  his  own  ex 
pense,  with  as  much  ease  as  congressmen,  Supreme 
justices,  and  other  public  servants,  who  out  of  much 
smaller  salaries  had  also  to  provide  houses,  servant- 
hire,  equipages,  &c.,  for  themselves  and  families, — 
was  denounced  as  rank  socialism.  The  "points  of 
order"  leveled  at  the  bill  (it  having  ridden  in  on  a 
general  appropriation  bill)  were  likewise  brushed  aside, 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        75 

and  the  House  of  Representatives  cast  its  vote  in  favor 
of  making  the  people  pay  the  railroad  fare  of  the 
Presidential  circuit-rider. 

When  the  bill  reached  the  Senate,  Senator  Bailey 
suggested  that,  if  the  measure  were  so  framed  as  not 
to  become  effective  until  the  present  Executive  had  re 
tired  from  office,  and  for  the  benefit  of  some  future 
President,  that  would  remove  the  Constitutional  ob 
jection. 

But  no,  no!  That  would  not  answer.  The  people 
wanted  to  hear  Roosevelt ! 

His  high  moral  precepts,  his  beautiful  platitudes 
anent  law  and  order,  his  wonderful  pronouncements 
on  the  evils  afflicting  the  body  politic,  as  well  as  the 
governmental  remedies  implied,  when  not  boldly  ex 
pressed,  must  appeal  to  every  patriotic  senator  as  a 
great  means  of  educating  the  masses.  Senator  Till- 
man,  ever  on  the  qui  vive  for  the  African  in  the  legis- 
lacive  wood-pile,  while  conceding  Mr.  Roosevelt's  un 
usual  gifts  as  a  preacher,  expressed  the  fear  that  the 
President's  travelling  companions,  in  a  campaign  year 
for  instance,  might  not  be  such  as  could  properly  adorn 
a  preacher's  staff.  Tillman  was  tormented  with  a 
vision  of  "Uncle  Joe"  Cannon,  "Little  Tim"  Woodruff, 
and  other  sporty  Republican  spell-binders  accompany 
ing  these  moralizing  and  highly  instructive  pleasure 
jaunts.  Senator  Fo raker  also  had  doubts  about  the 
constitutionality  of  the  measure,  and  always  thought 
ful  of  Roosevelt,  Foraker  proposed  that  the  resolution 
be  divorced  from  the  appropriation  bill,  and  made  a 
separate  and  independent  bill,  so  that  if  the  President 
should  wish  to  veto  it,  upon  the  ground  of  its  uncon- 
stitutionality  (so  sure  was  Foraker  that  President 
Roosevelt  would  not  accept  any  unconstitutional 
favors),  he  might  do  so,  without  the  embarrassment 
of  vetoing  the  whole  Appropriation  bill.  This 
thought  fulness  upon  Senator  Foraker's  part  turned 


?6  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

out  to  be  wholly  unnecessary,  since  the  President 
promptly  signed  the  bill  when  presented  to  him — with 
never  a  constitutional  misgiving — and  it  became  a  law 
June  25,  1006. 

After  all,  as  Grover  Cleveland's  Irish  henchman  re 
marked  to  him  on  one  occasion :  "What  is  the  Consti 
tution,  between  friends?"  And  they  were  all  "friends" 
in  that  first  session  of  the  59th  Congress. 

With  the  Republican  President  urging  the  passage 
of  a  measure  taken  bodily  out  of  the  Democratic  na 
tional  platform;  and  all  the  Republican  representa 
tives  in  Congress  forced  to  vote  for  it — except  Sena 
tor  Foraker,  and  "the  man  with  sand"  from  Massachu 
setts — Samuel  McCall,  rancorous  party  lines  were 
effaced — almost.  In  the  noble  enthusiasm  evoked  by 
the  righteous  battle  for  railroad-rate  regulation,  ever. 
the  Tillman  lion  and  the  Teddy-bear  consented  to  "lie 
down"  for  a  season;  though  as  might  have  been  ex 
pected,  they  got  into  a  scrap  before  they  rose  up. 

The  battle  won,  and  everybody  in  fine  humor,  they 
were  ready  to  donate  an  additional  $25,000  a  year  to 
send  the  presidential  voice  crying  again  into  the  wil 
derness,  to  prepare  the  way  for  other  gigantic  reforms. 

The  Roosevelt  sermons  are  too  long  and  too  numer 
ous  to  be  reproduced  in  any  work  of  ordinary  size,  but 
here  are  a  few  sample  texts : 

"Let  reverence  for  the  law  be  taught  in  schools  and 
colleges,  be  written  in  primers  and  spelling  books;  be 
published  from  pulpits,  be  proclaimed  in  legislative 
houses,  and  enforced  in  the  courts  of  justice." 

"He  is  the  most  unsafe  adviser  who  would  suggest 
the  doing  of  evil  that  good  may  come." 

"The  party  man  who  blindly  follows  party,  right  or 
wrong,  and  who  fails  to  make  that  party  in  any  way 
better,  commits  a  crime  against  the  country." 

"The  people  who  do  harm  in  the  end  are  not  the 
wrong-doers  whom  all  execrate ;  but  they  are  the  men 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND    FABLE  77 

who  do  not  do  quite  as  much  wrong,  but  who  are 
applauded  instead  of  being  execrated." 

"Calhoun's  purposes  seem  to  have  been  in  the  main 
pure ;  but  few  criminals  have  worked  as  much  harm 
to  their  country  as  he  did.  The  plea  of  good  intentions 
is  not  one  that  can  be  allowed  to  have  much  weight  in 
passing  historical  judgment  upon  a  man  whose  wrong- 
headedness  and  distorted  way  of  looking  at  things, 
produced,  or  helped  to  produce  such  incalculable  evil." 

"A  man  is  not  a  good  citizen,  I  care  not  how  lofty 
his  thoughts  are  in  the  abstract,  if  his  actions  do  not 
square  with  his  professions." 

Sometimes  the  utterances  are  Delphic  in  character, 
like,  "We  must  shackle  cunning,  as  we  have  shackled 
force" ;  and  then  all  the  people  fall  on  their  faces  and 
cry,  "Great  is  Theodore,  oracle  and  preacher !" 

To  find  fault  with  the  exponent  of  such  immaculate 
theories  is  but  a  thankless  office  usually.  But  taking 
Text  Number  6  as  our  guide,  we  will  now  turn  from 
the  realm  of  ornamental  philosophy  to  the  considera 
tion  of  a  few  historic  Facts. 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   VII. 


"There  must  be  no  compromise  with  official  corrup 
tion.  .  .  .  We  can  not  trust  those  base  beings  who 
treat  politics  only  as  a  game — out  of  which  to  wring 
a  soiled  livelihood.  .  .  .  The  real  and  dangerous 
foe  is  the  corrupt  politician.  .  .  .  No  man  who  is 
corrupt,  no  tnan  who  condones  corruption  in  others, 
can  possibly  do  his  duty  by  the  community." 

This  is  taken  from  the  Rooseveltian  repertoire  of 
ornamental  texts,  but  when  it  comes  to  the  business  of 
advancing  his  own  political  ends,  Roosevelt  imme 
diately  becomes  "a  practical  man,"  and  Rooseveltian 
practice  is  a  far  cry  from  Rooseveltian  preachment,  as 
these  presents  shall  demonstrate. 

The  acknowledged  prince  of  political  corruptionists 
in  New  York  when  Roosevelt  was  seeking  the  nomi 
nation  for  governor,  was  Thomas  C.  Platt, — other 
wise  designated  as  "his  feline  majesty  of  the  U.  S. 
Senate";  and  his  disciple  and  lieutenant  in  political 
chicanery,  was  Benjamin  B.  Odell.  When  after  a 
conference  with  these  two,  Roosevelt  learned  that  in 
order  to  secure  the  Republican  nomination,  he  must 
break  with  the  Independents  whose  alliance  he  had 
sought,  and  with  whom  he  had  covenanted  to  over 
throw  Platt  and  Odell,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  break 
faith  with  his  Independent  allies  and  join  forces  with 
the  corruptionists. 

Roosevelt  himself  refers  to  Odell  as  "my  trusted 
friend  and  adviser  in  every  crisis."  This  ideal  friend- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  79 

ship  suffered  some  estrangement,  in  after  years  when 
"the  trusted  friend  and  adviser"  had  nothing  more  to 
contribute  to  the  Rooseveltian  program — a  fate  which 
has  not  infrequently  overtaken  the  Roosevelt  friend 
ships.  In  the  summer  of  1900,  having  announced  his 
wish  for  another  term  as  Governor,  Roosevelt  de 
clared  :  "Under  no  circumstances  could  I,  or  would  I, 
accept  the  nomination  for  the  vice-presidency," 
adding,  "I  am  happy  to  state  that  Senator  Platt  cor 
dially  acquiesces  in  my  views  in  the  matter."  This 
virtual  acknowledgment  of  Platt  domination  received 
very  striking  and  emphatic  confirmation  some  weeks 
later,  when  Roosevelt  donned  his  Rough  Rider  regi 
mentals  and  went  down  to  Philadelphia,  where  sat  the 
Republican  National  Convention,  and  swearing  by  all 
his  gods  that  he  "would  not  be  the  vice-presidential 
candidate" — quiescently  suffered  Platt,  Quay  and 
Company  to  "kick  him  upstairs"  into  the  vice-presi 
dency  ! 

Various  explanations  have  been  given  of  this  epi 
sode  in  the  Rooseveltian  march  of  events,  some 
friendly  and  apologetic,  others  cynical,  and  all  in 
genious.  But  the  episode  itself  seems  to  stand  out  in 
sufficient  bas  relief,  without  explanation  of  any  kind. 
It  was  very  characteristic  and  typical  of  the  Roose 
velt  mode  (now  very  familiar)  of  fierce  charge,  and 
quick  surrender.  Some  have  speculated  on  whether  he 
was  really  sincere  in  his  clamorous  renunciation  (we 
have  had  so  many  verbal  renunciations  from  him 
since)  of  the  vice-presidential  nomination,  or  cleverly 
scheming  to  get  it.  ...  That  seems  immaterial. 
The  point  is,  the  whole  proceeding  shows  him  to  have 
been  in  the  hands  of  Platt, — Platt,  the  corrupt  politi 
cal  "boss,"  with  whom  Roosevelt,  the  preacher,  says, 
"There  must  be  no  compromise."  He  knew  he  could 
not  have  the  re-nomination  for  Governor,  if  Platt  op 
posed  it;  and  if  Platt  wanted  him  to  be  the  Vice-Presi- 


8O  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

dent,  that  was  all  there  was  in  it  for  Roosevelt,  and 
he  was  never  the  man  to  pass  up  the  only  things  in 
sight. 

It  was  an  open  secret  that  McKinley  didn't  want 
Roosevelt  for  a  running  mate,  and  Marc  Hanna,  Mc- 
Kinley's  manager,  who  was  a  "practical"  politician  ^i 
the  old-fashioned  pattern — with  no  misleading  "re 
form"  frills  basted  on  him — had  no  fancy  for  this 
newly  risen  Rough  Rider  type,  whose  chief  political 
asset  was  a  perennial  circus  parade. 

But  Platt,  Quay  &  Co.  willed  it  otherwise,  and 
Platt,  Quay  &  Co.  were  in  the  lead  in  that  Convention. 
Hanna  was  overruled  in  the  matter  of  the  vice-presi 
dential  candidate,  and  told  to  confine  his  personal  at 
tention  to  the  "barrel."  From  this  it  will  appear  that 
Roosevelt  as  governor  had  not  proved  an  acceptable 
quantity  to  "his  Feline  Majesty,"  and  this  of  course 
is  seized  upon  by  the  hero-worshippers  as  presumptive 
and  inductive  proof  of  Rooseveltian  virtue.  But  it 
was  a  fact  observed  by  all,  that  as  governor,  Roose 
velt  was  openly  friendly  with  "the  machine" ;  he  him 
self  had  announced  before  election,  in  a  letter  to  his 
friend  Leupp  (one  of  those  strictly  personal  communi 
cations  of  his,  wrhich  in  some  inadvertent  fashion  al 
ways  find  their  way  into  the  public  prints),  that,  if 
elected,  he  "would  consult  and  treat  with  the  leaders — 
not  once,  but  continuously,  and  earnestly  strive  to 
agree  with  them  on  all  important  questions." 

Yet  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  two  men  more 
opposite  in  temperament  and  methods,  than  Platt  and 
Roosevelt, — albeit  possessing  practically  the  same 
standards  of  political  ethics — with  the  slight  balance, 
if  any,  going  to  Platt.  It  is  not  surprising  that  they 
were  not  harmonious.  Platt  himself  throws  some 
light  on  the  situation  when  he  says :  "It  was  not  that 
Roosevelt  wouldn't  do  what  we  wanted.  It  was  the 
things  he  did,  that  we  didn't  want." 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  8 1 

The  story  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  unholy  "compromises" 
with  the  political  "Bosses"  after  he  became  President, 
is  a  long  and  interesting  one,  and  may  be  summed  up 
in  Friend  Leupp's  statement  that  "Mr.  Roosevelt 
cherishes  an  almost  morbid  horror  of  doing  anything 
to  split  his  party!" 

How  is  that  as  a  prime  qualification  for  the  leading 
performer  in  a  "reform"  programme? 

The  Pennsylvania  appointments,  McMichael  as 
Philadelphia  postmaster,  and  McClain  (one  of  the 
impeccable  "city  fathers"  of  Philadelphia)  as  Internal- 
Revenue  Collector,  made  early  in  his  administration, 
show  President  Roosevelt  subservient  to  the  "Boss- 
rule"  in  that  State.  In  1902,  the  New  York  Nation 
stated  that  Addicks,  the  giant  corruptionist  of  Dela 
ware — making  Platt  and  Quay  almost  respectable  by 
comparison — "was  made  the  sole  dispenser  of  federal 
patronage  in  that  State,  having  the  President's  sup 
port.  In  order  to  appoint  an  Addicks  tool  U.  S.  Dis 
trict  Attorney,  Mr.  Roosevelt  passed  over  the  tem 
porary  incumbent  of  the  office,  J.  P.  Nields,  who  was 
endorsed  by  nearly  every  lawyer  in  the  State,  irre 
spective  of  party,  by  both  federal  judges,  and  the  en 
tire  judiciary  of  Delaware.  The  Addicks  tool,  W.  M. 
Byrne,  was  notoriously  unfit,  having  been  rebuked  in 
open  court  by  Judge  Bradford  for  neglect  of  duty, 
and  to  take  such  a  man  at  the  behest  of  Addicks,  was 
unspeakably  degrading  and  humiliating.  .  .  . 

"The  loathing  which  the  honest  people  of  Delaware 
and  of  the  whole  country  felt  for  Addicks  could  not 
have  been  unknown  to  President  Roosevelt.  The 
facts  were  beyond  dispute.  .  .  .  What  excuse  does 
the  President  give  for  this  flagrant  compounding  with 
brazen  corruption?  He  says,  in  effect:  that  Addicks 
had  12,000  votes  behind  him,  while  his  Republican 
opponents  could  show  but  8,000;  that  he,  Roosevelt, 
cannot  interfere  with  a  factional  fight  within  his  own 


82  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

party;  that  he  is  forced  to  deal  with  any  party  leader 
whom  the  majority  of  the  party  voters  send  him,  and 
that  he  must  recognize  Addicks  as  he  has  recognized 
Platt  and  Quay."  .  .  . 

How  is  this,  as  a  rule  of  conduct,  for  a  President 
"with  a  sensitive  moral  sense," — to  embrace  brigands 
whenever  they  come  to  him  with  the  party  label  on 
their  backs?  But  it  seems  not  even  this  dubious  rule 
would  apply  to  Addicks.  The  Nation  goes  on  to  say 
of  him:  "He  was  not  yet  elected  senator;  not  like 
Quay,  a  successful  pirate  in  charge  of  the  ship.  Ad 
dicks  was  still  fighting,  and  the  beleaguered  crew 
hoped  to  beat  him  off;  whereupon  the  President,  see 
ing  the  piratical  assailants  outnumber  the  crew  in  dan 
ger  of  massacre  by  12  to  8,  decides  to  go  to  the  aid  of 
the  buccaneers !" 

Friend  Leupp,  in  his  Campaign  Book  of  Apologies 
for  Roosevelt,  says  that  this  "unfortunate  excuse"  for 
the  President's  course  in  the  Addicks  mix-up,  was 
unwisely  and  incontinently  put  out  by  Postmaster- 
General  Payne,  during  the  President's  absence,  and 
Leupp  is  rather  severe  upon  Payne  for  so  misrepre 
senting  his  incorruptible  and  high-minded  chief.  Not 
that  Leupp  denies  the  facts  in  Roosevelt's  alignment 
with  Addicks ;  or  with  the  other  Republican  "bosses," 
he  admits  them  all ;  but  Leup  has  a  different  "explana 
tion"  of  the  President's  motives,  from  that  given  out 
by  Payne ;  though  Leupp's  book  is  a  remarkable  illumi 
nation  of  the  text  that,  "explanations  never  explain." 
The  Apologist  makes  no  effort  to  square  the  Presi 
dent's  action  in  the  Byrne  case  with  his  removal  of 
Internal-Revenue  Collector  Bingham  of  Alabama, 
"for  the  corrupt  and  vicious  scheme  of  denying  to  ne 
groes  qualified  to  vote  under  the  laws  of  the  State, 
their  just  political  rights,"  though  even  in  the  judg 
ment  of  Northern  Republicans,  Byrne's  offence  was 
fully  as  flagrant  as  Bingham's.  Did  the  President 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  83 

pause  to  inquire  whether  the  Collector  and  his  asso 
ciates  represented  the  dominant  faction  among  Ala 
bama  Republicans?  What  is  good  for  Delaware 
might  be  considered  good  for  Alabama,  tho'  this  is 
by  no  means  a  solitary  instance  wherein  President 
Roosevelt  has  taken  observations  of  longitude  and 
latitude  in  making  federal  appointments.  The  reason 
assigned  by  Apologist  Leupp  for  the  President's  de 
ferring  to  the  wishes  of  the  "bosses"  in  the  distribu 
tion  of  federal  patronage,  resulting  ofttimes  in  ap 
pointments  so  obnoxious  to  his  righteous  feelings,  is, 
that  "senatorial  courtesy  would  hold  up  any  appoint 
ment  not  endorsed  by  the  Senators  from  the  State  in 
which  the  appointment  is  to  be  made." 

And  will  Apologist  Leupp  or  some  other  competent 
authority,  kindly  inform  us  what  became  of  this  same 
obstructing  "senatorial  courtesy"  in  the  South  Caro 
lina  Crum  case?  Not  only  the  Senators  from  that 
State,  but  every  Southern  Senator  on  the  floor,  voicing 
the  unanimous  white  sentiment  of  the  entire  South 
country,  vehemently  protested  against  the  appoint 
ment  of  a  negro  Collector  of  the  Port  at  Charleston, 
but  it  did  not  prevent  his  appointment.  Republican 
Senators  appear  to  have  done  their  best  in  upholding 
their  end  of  "senatorial  courtesy," — having  refused  to 
confirm  the  appointment  of  Crum  through  a  long,  a 
short,  and  an  extra  session  of  Congress.  Only  after 
our  Strenuous  and  sinuous  and  law-abiding  Presi 
dent  had  taken  advantage  of  a  provision  in  the  Consti 
tution  never  designed  to  fit  such  cases,  but  only  for 
filling  vacancies  caused  by  death  or  resignation, — to 
appoint  his  negro  Collector  during  a  recess  of  Con 
gress,  and  the  Senate  still  withholding  confirmation 
during  the  extra  session  convened  in  November,  1903, 
he  attempted  a  still  further  twisting  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  in  his  "constructive  recess"  appointments  of  Dr. 
Crum,  Mr.  Byrne,  Leonard  Wood  et  al. ;  and  finally, 


84  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

when  the  close  of  both  the  extra  and  regular  sessions 
found  the  Crum  appointment  still  unconfirmed,  he 
threatened — and  there  was  a  rumor  of  an  all-night 
seance  at  the  White  House  endeavoring  to  restrain 
him  from  carrying  out  the  threat,  to  hold  another 
extra  summer  session  of  Congress  to  compass  Crum's 
appointment, — then,  and  not  till  then,  did  the  Republi 
can  Senate  yield  in  the  matter  of  "senatorial  cour 
tesy,"  and  promised  his  Strenuosity,  if  he  would  only 
get  quiet,  they  would  confirm  his  negro  Collector  of 
the  Port  of  Charleston  the  first  thing  at  the  following 
regular  session,  e'en  tho'  Tollman's  "pitchfork"  and 
every  Southern  objector  barred  the  way!  And  the 
Republican  Senate  kept  its  pledge. 

When  the  "Reform  battle"  was  on  in  Philadelphia  in 
1906,  when  the  decent  people  of  that  city  were  making 
a  life-or-death  struggle  to  wrest  their  municipal  gov 
ernment  from  the  hands  of  the  corrupt  "gang"  which 
had  so  long  abused  their  patience,  Wayne  MacVeagh, 
Garfield's  Attorney-General,  and  one  of  the  reform 
leaders,  in  an  article  in  the  North  American,  pointed 
to  "the  extraordinary  fact,  that  the  whole  effective 
power  of  the  Administration  at  Washington  zvas 
against  the  reformers." 

Commenting  on  the  alliance  between  the  Executive 
Department  of  the  National  Government  and  the 
"Bosses"  engaged  in  despoiling  Philadelphia  and  the 
State,  MacVeagh  asserts:  "Almost  every  person  in 
Pennsylvania  honored  with  a  commission  bearing  the 
signature  of  Roosevelt,  was  the  avowed,  persistent, 
and  reckless  opponent  of  that  decency  and  honesty  in 
politics  for  which  the  President  is  supposed  to  stand." 

MacVeagh  was  to  learn,  in  common  with  many  other 
people,  that  President  Roosevelt  will  "stand  for"  most 
any  good  thing  when  the  "standing  for"  involves 
nothing  more  than  the  formulation  of  a  high-sound 
ing  preachment. 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        85 

So  long  as  people  are  willing  to  accept  words  for 
deeds;  so  long  as  they  are  content  with  profession 
instead  of  performance,  and  exempt  from  honest  criti 
cism  those  in  high  official  position;  just  so  long  will 
artists  of  the  Rooseveltian  genus  flourish  in  this  world 
of  "mortals"  discovered  by  Puck. 


86  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

ROOSEVELT  AND   THE   PRESS. 

"Let  me  have  free  access  to  the  channels  of  pub 
licity — and  I  care  not  who  makes  my  country's  laws, 
or  what  the  other  fellow  does." 

In  these  words — according  to  one  who  once  held 
an  intimate  and  honored  place  in  the  Roosevelt  press- 
bureau — is  embodied  Mr.  Roosevelt's  full  political 
creed,  "the  other  fellow"  being  a  polite  Rooseveltian 
figure-of -speech  for  a  personal  or  political  foe. 

Mr.  Roosevelt's  clever  and  powerful  manipulation 
of  press  agencies  is  conceded  by  both  friends  and 
foes;  the  tone  adopted  being  admiring  or  censuring, 
according  to  their  respective  bents, — but  all  agree  as 
to  the  fact.  Those  seeking  historic  parallels  have 
likened  him  to  Bismarck,  and  to  Louis  XIV.,  the 
"Grand  Monarch"  of  France,  who  secured  his  totter 
ing  throne  for  half  a  century  by  looking  after  the  wel 
fare  of  all  literary  men  within  his  realm.  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  influence  over  the  press  appears  to  have  been 
secured  by  a  happy  combination  of  the  methods  of  the 
"Grand  Monarch"  and  the  "Iron  Chancellor."  A 
Washington  correspondent  thus  writes  of  him:  "Mr. 
Roosevelt  has  adopted  two  methods  to  bring  the  body 
of  correspondents  to  a  proper  state  of  humility  and 
subjection.  He  has  rewarded  with  a  lavish  hand,  and 
he  uas  been  equally  unsparing  in  his  punishments." 

Until  he  came  into  the  presidency,  Roosevelt  was 
not  in  a  position  to  employ  any  cast-iron  or  "big- 
stick"  methods  toward  the  publicity  hosts,  and  his 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  87 

attitude  toward  newspaper  men,  magazine  writers  and 
the  literary  cult  in  general,  was  most  cordial  and  con 
ciliatory. 

After  his  establishment  in  the  White  House,  he 
selected  about  40  out  of  the  200  or  more  newspaper 
correspondents  in  Washington  to  be  his  special  messen 
gers  to  the  public,  and  these  are  known,  in  the  popular 
parlance  of  the  Capital,  as  "White-House  cuckoos." 
These  are  the  birds  which  roost  close  to  the  Executive 
chamber,  and  give  out  to  their  editors  for  the  benefit 
of  an  expectant  public,  the  internal  workings  of  the 
Executive  mind.  By  means  of  these,  the  public  is  kept 
closely  informed  as  to  the  President's  views,  pur 
poses  and  plans. 

One  of  the  best-known  newspaper  men  of  Wash 
ington,  who  was  at  one  time  "Capitol  reporter"  and 
political  writer  on  the  staff  of  the  principal  Wash 
ington  daily,  and  incidentally  a  "White  House 
cuckoo,"  in  an  article  published  in  Harper's  Weekly 
(Sept.  28,  1907),  thus  affirms: 

"Theodore  Roosevelt  secured  his  popularity  through 
publicity;  has  retained,  strengthened,  and  extended  it 
through  publicity.  .  .  .  The  unbroken  chain  of  per 
sonal  triumphs  scored  by  Roosevelt  the  President,  can 
be  traced  directly  to  the  press-bureau  of  which  he  is 
the  sole  manager,  and  the  cuckoos  the  mere  reporters 
of  his  views  and  attitudes.  .  .  . 

"And  woe  betide  the  luckless  cuckoo  who  violates 
the  President's  confidence,  or  misinterprets  his  opin 
ions!  He  chooses  his  press-agents  as  he  does  the 
members  of  his  Cabinet,  and  it  is  as  incumbent  upon 
the  one  as  upon  the  other  to  step  aside  whenever  the 
President  desires  a  change, — only  in  the  case  of  the 
deposed  cuckoo,  when  he  flutters  with  broken  wing 
from  his  roost  under  the  White  House  eves,  he  may 
find  that  his  editor  has  separated  him  from  his  sal 
ary, — not  always,  but  sometimes." 


88  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

Needless  to  say,  this  "cuckoo"  had  been  "separated" 
from  his  White  House  perch,  though  his  efficiency  as 
a  journalist  still  insured  him  a  salary.  Because  of  his 
deposed  state,  some  persons  may  discredit  his  utter 
ances  and  attribute  them  to  personal  spite;  but  the 
point  seems  not  well  taken.  It  is  perfectly  patent 
that  he  could  not  honorably  give  out  information 
about  the  internal  workings  of  the  presidential  press- 
bureau  while  he  was  part  and  parcel  of  the  same.  Be 
ing  "down-and-out,"  it  was  optional  with  him  as  to 
what  use  he  should  make  of  knowledge  therein  ob 
tained,  and  the  President  in  deposing  him  must  take 
his  chances  on  that  score,  and  this  he  must  have  known. 
It  would  seem  that  the  ex-cuckoo's  testimony  is  en 
titled  to  as  much  credence  at  least  as  any  other  "wit 
ness  for  the  State." 

The  assertions  of  this  particular  ex-cuckoo,  he  says, 
are  "based  on  personal  experience  of  about  a  year  as 
assistant  press-agent  under  the  President,  and  on 
close  observation  extending  over  the  entire  period  of 
his  occupancy  of  the  White  House." 

He  further  testifies:  "The  presidential  cuckoo  has 
an  extremely  difficult  and  hazardous  task,  but  he 
learns  considerable  detail  of  White  House  methods 
and  purposes  under  the  present  regime.  ...  In 
handling  his  press-agents,  President  Roosevelt  ob 
serves  the  Napoleonic  method  of  not  entrusting  the 
full  details  of  a  campaign  to  any  of  them." 

The  writer  goes  on  to  explain  that,  in  this  way,  the 
President  will  have  one  set  of  reporters  contradict  the 
information  he  has  given  out  through  others,  when 
contradiction  seems  expedient.  When  he  wishes  to 
launch  some  plan  or  "policy,"  he  throws  out  at  first, 
by  means  of  an  obedient  cuckoo,  what  may  be  called 
"a  feeler" ;  and  waits  to  see  the  effect.  If  popular 
approval  is  instant  and  preponderant,  well  and  good, 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  89 

the  first  statement  concerning  the  President's  inten 
tions  will  stand. 

If,  however,  the  original  promulgation  fails  to 
strike  a  popular  chord,  and  there  are  indications  of 
strong  dissent  and  sharp  criticism  from  powerful 
sources,  another  obedient  cuckoo  is  immediately  set 
to  work  to  convince  the  public  mind  that  the  Presi 
dent  was  "misrepresented''  by  the  first  report.  The 
above  quoted  ex-cuckoo  says :  "It  was  thus  he 
launched  the  Taft  boom  nearly  two  years  before  elec 
tion.  He  chose  to  start  it  in  Washington,  where  Con 
gress  was  in  session,  and  he  would  thus  be  able  to 
locate  the  enemies  as  well  as  the  supporters  of  the 
idea.  And  so  he  told  his  Washington  cuckoo — the 
contrite  writer  of  these  lines — to  publish  the  fact,  that 
it  is  President  Roosevelt's  wish  to  have  his  Secretary 
of  War  succeed  him  in  the  White  House.  At  the  same 
time,  he  told  some  of  the  out-of-town  cuckoos  to 
'knock'  the  suggestion  in  their  papers." 

Thus  Mr.  Roosevelt  learned  in  short  order  which 
congressmen  were  friendly,  and  who  of  them  were 
hostile  to  the  Taft  presidential  idea.  The  two  con 
flicting  statements  left  the  President's  position  in 
doubt,  and  those  who  sought  an  interview  on  the  sub 
ject,  found  him  wrapped  in  non-committal  silence,  or 
"impenetrable  ambiguity." 

He  waited  six  months  before  he  set  the  out-of-town 
cuckoos  openly  to  work  on  the  Taft  boom.  Then  the 
whole  broad  continent  rang  with  it. 

In  his  speech  before  the  National  Editorial  Asso 
ciation  at  Jamestown  in  June,  1907,  Roosevelt  uttered 
probably  the  most  sincere  sentiment  of  his  being:  "It 
is  of  course  a  truism  to  say,  that  no  other  body  of  our 
countrymen  wield  as  extensive  an  influence  as  those 
who  write  for  the  daily  press  and  for  other  periodi 
cals." 

At  this  Jamestown  meeting,  he  treated  the  publicity 


9O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

hosts  to  a  revised  resume  of  "my  policies" — to  make 
an  editorial  holiday — and  to  give  the  country  a  con 
gressional  forecast  of  the  measures  he  would  recom 
mend  the  following  winter.  The  speech  was  duly  re 
ported  by  all  the  assembled  journalists  to  their  re 
spective  papers  throughout  the  land,  and  by  the  time 
Congress  convened,  the  "policies"  had  been  thor 
oughly  aired  and  exploited.  He  has  all  of  the  actor's 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  "advance  notices."  It  is 
thus  he  wins  most  of  his  battles.  His  "cuckoos"  are 
sent  before,  to  spy  out  the  land, — "where  all  the  shores 
of  promise  lie,  and  where  the  rocks  that  he  must  flee" 
— and  thus  fore-warned,  fore-armed  and  equipped  at 
every  point,  the  Roosevelt  battleship  sails  proudly  into 
port.  A  veteran  Washington  newspaper  man,  who 
has  watched  the  Roosevelt  career  closely,  says :  "After 
careful  and  extended  observation,  it  can  be  truthfully 
asserted  that  scarcely  a  publication  in  the  United 
States  of  broad  circulation  and  influence,  but  has 
upon  its  staff  in  an  important  capacity,  a  Roo seven, 
cuckoo.  He  has  invited  to  Washington,  and  enter 
tained  at  the  White  House,  a  larger  number  of  men 
who  write  than  have  any  half  dozen  of  his  predeces 
sors.  The  list  of  those  he  has  singled  out  for  this 
distinction  is  a  long  one,  and  includes  cartoonists  as 
well  as  writers." 

Apropos  of  this,  shortly  after  the  Panama  coup  set 
all  the  tongues  to  wagging,  and  all  the  "knockers"  to 
knocking,  Alfred  Henry  Lewis,  a  clever  political 
writer  of  the  day,  was  calling  at  the  White  House. 

The  Panama  stroke  possessing  something  of  a 
Jacksonian  flavor,  and  Jackson  himself  being  still  a 
popular  hero  in  the  memory  of  many  American  citi 
zens, — some  in  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  yet  casting 
their  votes  for  him  at  every  election,  according  to  the 
"delineators"  of  mountaineer  types — Lewis  recounts 
that  at  this  interview  referred  to,  Mr.  Roosevelt 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  pi 

brought  his  fist  down  on  the  table  with  characteristic 
emphasis  and  exclaimed: 

"Andrew  Jackson  was  my  kind  of  a  man !"  Some 
persons  carried  a  dim  recollection  of  Roosevelt  refer 
ring  to  Andrew  Jackson  in  his  "Life  of  Benton"  as 
the  "ignorant,  headstrong"  President  who  "appealed 
to  the  passions  and  prejudices,  but  never  to  the  reason 
of  his  hearers,"  and  who  had  been  selected  when  the 
public  mind  was  in  a  "wholly  irrational  state."  But 
now  that  Roosevelt  himself  had  done  something  which 
he  and  his  admirers  fondly  imagined  savored  of  Jack 
son,  the  latter  immediately  becomes  Roosevelt's  "kind 
of  a  man!"  To  be  sure,  why  not? 

The  tip  was  sufficient  for  Alfred  Henry  Lewis.  The 
brilliant  writer  whose  keen  satiric  lancet  had  pierced 
many  a  fake  panoply  of  other  public  men  promptly 
took  the  presidential  cue,  and  went  off  to  write  a  most 
ingenious  "parallel"  between  "Andrew  Jackson,  Old 
Hickory;  and  Theodore  Roosevelt,  New  Hickory!" 
(See  "Success"  magazine  for  Sept.,  1904.) 

Those  who  would  witness  a  marvelous  transforma 
tion  of  a  satiric  scalpel  into  a  spellbinder's  paint  brush 
are  referred  to  this  Lewis  "parallel,"  which  combines 
in  a  rare  degree,  misstatement,  exaggeration,  and  ful 
some  adulation.  It  is  probably  true,  if  "Old  Hickory" 
had  wanted  that  Panama  strip,  he  would  have  seized  it, 
in  the  nick  of  time,  just  as  Roosevelt  did, — with  slight 
regard  for  law  or  precedent, — with  two  very  impor 
tant  differences:  Jackson  would  never  have  planned 
that  impromptu  stroke,  nor  would  he  have  apologized 
for  it  afterwards,  as  did  Mr.  Roosevelt.  (See  Senator 
Hoar's  speeches  in  the  Senate  Nov.,  1903,  and  Feb., 
1904.) 

Again,  when  the  scandal  in  the  Post  Office  was  un 
earthed,  in  1903,  and  "smelled  to  Heaven" ;  when  after 
much  talk  and  bluster,  and  righteous  "orders  for  a 
thorough  investigation,"  some  months  elapsed,  and  ill* 


92        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

natured  critics  began  to  hint  at  a  Government  "white 
wash"  for  the  guilty;  William  Allen  White,  another 
literary  friend  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's,  blossomed  out  in  an 
article  on  "Roosevelt  and  the  Postal  Frauds"  (Sept. 
McClure's,  1904),  wherein  the  President  is  depicted 
as  the  stern  and  virtuous  judge,  and  relentless  investi 
gator,  inexorably  proclaiming,  "Let  no  guilty  man 
escape,"  and  impervious  alike  to  personal  appeals  and 
to  the  unholy  political  pressure  which  certain  sena 
torial  "bosses"  sought  to  bring  to  bear. 

Apologist  Leupp  also  treats  of  the  Postal  Frauds  in 
his  "Campaign  Life,"  and  clears  all  suspicious  circum 
stances  with  a  comprehensive  arraignment  of  Post 
master-General  Payne,  "a  dyed-in-the-wool  politician, 
with  a  politician's  traditional  contempt  for  reform" — 
whose  previous  political  training  as  an  exploiter  of 
Democratic  crimes  and  Republican  virtues,  had  not 
fitted  him  to  be  an  ideal  "investigator"  when  the  sub 
ject  of  the  investigation  was  his  own  Department.  As 
Leupp  naively  puts  it:  "He  was  puzzled  to  decide  just 
how  to  go  at  the  task  of  raking  over  the  misdeeds  of 
his  Republican  associates." 

This  of  course  explains  all  the  queer  doings  in  the 
conduct  of  the  Postal  Frauds;  why  Machen,  a  Demo 
crat,  and  Tyner  (a  helpless  old  man  whom  nobody  of 
consequence  was  especially  interested  in  shielding) — 
were  selected  to  feel  the  full  weight  of  governmental 
discipline,  while  other  equal,  if  not  greater  offenders, 
were  permitted  to  go  unscathed. 

President  Roosevelt  has  put  into  the  public  service 
more  newspaper  men  and  other  writers  than  can 
be  easily  enumerated,  but  the  following  partial  list 
will  convey  a  general  idea  of  this  phase  of  Roose- 
veltian  activity:  Whitelaw  Reid,  ambassador  to  Eng 
land;  Robt.  J.  Wynne,  correspondent  of  a  New  York 
paper,  and  president  of  a  Dining  Club  in  Washington, 
composed  almost  exclusively  of  newspaper  men,  was 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE  93 

successively  advanced  to  the  post  of  Assistant-Post- 
master-General,  then  to  the  head  of  the  Department, 
and  finally  to  be  Consul-General  to  London,  the  best 
paying  post  in  the  consular  service.  Of  the  three 

D.  C.  Commissioners  who  govern  Washington  under 
the  direction  of  Congress  and  the  President,  two  were 
active  newspaper  men  when  appointed  by  Roosevelt. 
Maj.  John  M.  Carson,  of  the  New  York  Times,  was 
made  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Manufactures;  Francis 

E.  Leupp,  a  newspaper  man,  was  made  Indian  Com 
missioner;  George   Horton,  appointed  consul-general 
at  Athens;  Albert  Halstead,  Consul  at  Birmingham, 
England ;  J.  Martin  Miller  is  Consul  somewhere  in  Eu 
rope;  and  Jos.   Rucklin  Bishop  was  taken  from  the 
editorship  of  a  New  York  paper,  and  made  the  secre 
tary  of  the  Panama  Canal  Commission,  at  a  salary  of 
$10,000  a  year. 

It  has  passed  into  a  proverb  in  Washington :  "Write 
a  biography  of  Roosevelt,  and  pull  out  a  consulship." 

President  Roosevelt's  method  of  dealing  with  the 
Washington  correspondents  is  thus  described  by  one 
of  them:  "When  President  Roosevelt  gets  ready  to 
lodge  a  fresh  impression  in  the  public  mind,  or  to  con 
tradict  something  displeasing  to  him  which  has  ap 
peared  in  the  public  press,  he  assembles  the  Washing 
ton  representatives — usually  his  'cuckoo'  flock,  tho' 
sometimes  an  outsider  gets  in,  too — and  addresses 
them  after  this  fashion :  'While  you  are  on  no  account, 
to  quote  me  personally,  yet  these  are  the  facts,  which 
you  can  make  such  use  of  as  you  think  proper,  and 
they  will  not  be  contradicted.'  In  communicating  'the 
facts,'  the  President  makes  a  great  show  of  frankness, 
and  of  taking  the  press  representatives  into  his  confi 
dence,  so  that  a  general  feeling  of  good  fellowship 
pervades  the  interview.  Sometimes  this  frankness  is 
carried  to  e  'remes,  as  when  the  President  assails 
some  public  character,  calling  him  "a  scoundrel,"  or 


94  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

"a  crook,"  &c.,  in  the  presence  of  the  reporters,  and  it 
is  really  very  much  to  the  credit  of  the  newspaper  men 
of  Wasnmgton,  that  they  have  allowed  so  few  of  the 
President's  reckless  criticism  of  others  to  get  into 
print." 

This  correspondent,  whose  stay  in  Washington 
covers  four  administrations,  concluded  his  description 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  method  with  the  correspondents, 
with  "No  other  President  in  my  knowledge,  has  ever 
done  this." 

The  next  day  after  one  of  these  Roosevelt  confi 
dential  chats  with  the  newspaper  hosts,  the  press  of 
the  country  teems  with  what  "the  President  thinks," 
or  what  "the  President  intends";  and  if  the  presiden 
tial  intentions  and  meditations  do  not  find  ready  re 
sponse  in  the  popular  heart,  the  responsibility  is  on 
the  misleading  newspapers,  and  not  on  the  worthy 
President. 

Naturally,  since  he  relies  so  implicitly  upon  the 
power  of  the  press,  he  chafes  under  the  criticisms  of 
that  power.  Editor  Noyes,  of  the  Washington  Even 
ing  Star,  speaking  before  the  National  Editorial  As 
sociation  at  Jamestown,  said  of  Roosevelt:  "He  has 
declared  himself  in  favor  of  'clean,  healthy  newspa 
pers,  with  clean,  healthy  criticisms,  which  shall  be 
fearless  and  truthful' ;  but  when  it  comes  to  the  test, 
it  is  seen  that  he  does  not  relish  these  'fearless  and 
truthful  criticisms'  when  they  are  exercised  at  his  ex 
pense.  Not  a  bit  of  it.  He  goes  on  in  his  old  way, 
doing  things  in  a  hasty,  ill-considered  manner,  and  his 
output  of  vituperous  epithets  is  rather  larger  than 
ever." 

The  Evening  Star  is  Republican  in  politics. 

The  New  York  Sun's  strictures  upon  Rooseveltian 
conduct  have  become  notorious,  and  Roosevelt  has 
more  than  once  observed  of  its  editor:  "I  wish  some 
body  would  take  it  into  his  head  to  pull  him  (the  Sun) 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        95 

apart  for  purposes  of  dissection,  in  order  to  ascer 
tain  what  sort  of  human  he  is,  and  then  forget  how  to 
put  the  parts  together  again !" 

This  pious  wish  for  the  Sun's  carping  editor  only 
illustrates  the  Rooseveltian  inability  to  comprehend 
adverse  criticism  of  himself. 

That  any  one  should  impugn  his  motives,  or  ques 
tion  his  sincerity,  or  infallibility,  argues  something 
radically  wrong  with  the  audacious  questioner,  some 
abnormality,  which  calls  for  vivisection! 

Wasn't  it  Thomas  Carlyle  who  said:  "The  greatest 
of  all  faults  is  to  be  conscious  of  none?" 

When  Theodore  Roosevelt  is  assigned  his  final 
place  in  the  Hall  of  Fame,  he  will  most  probably  oc 
cupy  a  niche  (as  yet  unveiled)  underneath  which  is 
inscribed :  "He  was  the  greatest  self -advertiser  among 
the  sons  of  men." 


96  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   IX. 

ROOSEVELT   AND   THE    MOTHERS. 

In  the  days  when  every  utterance  from  the  Rough 
Rider  commander  and  the  Hero  of  San  Juan  was  duly 
recounted  and  applauded,  in  the  buoyant  confidence 
that  when  the  words  could  not  pass  muster  for  real 
wisdom  or  real  wit,  they  would  be  accepted  by  the 
people  as  "real  cute,"  an  exuberant  writer  in  the  Metro 
politan,  Cosmopolitan,  or  some  other  polite  magazine, 
thus  describes  the  Hero's  home-coming:  When  the 
ships  bringing  the  victorious  Rough  Riders  touched 
shore,  and  they  stepped  forth  amid  the  plaudits  of  the 
assembled  multitude,  the  spokesman  of  the  political 
delegation  commissioned  to  welcome  Colonel  Roose 
velt  and  whisper  gubernatorial  hopes  in  his  ear, 
stepped  up  to  him,  and  after  cordial  greeting,  inquired 
after  his  health. 

"I  feel  like  a  bull-moose!"  responded  the  gallant 
Colonel,  and  thus  it  was  recorded  in  the  magazine. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  exponent  of  such  lusty 
animalism  should  be  found  exploiting  Napoleon's  view 
of  womankind,  "that  she  is  greatest  who  hath  borne  the 
most  sons  for  the  Republic."  Hence  among  the  first 
presidential  lectures  to  the  people,  is  the  one  to  mothers, 
on  the  duties  of  maternity,  and  the  awful,  awful  sin  of 
race-suicide ! 

The  mother's  vitality,  the  father's  financial  ability 
to  care  for  a  numerous  brood,  are  secondary  considera 
tions — inde'ed  not  mentioned. 

It  is  not  the  quality  but  the  size  of  the  family  that  is 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

important;  the  first  and  greatest  Rooseveltian  com 
mandment  is  like  that  post-diluvian  one :  "Be  fruitful 
and  multiply,  and  replenish  the  earth" — the  "earth" 
being  a  polite  name  for  the  United  States,  while  Roose 
velt  is  steering  the  ship  of  state. 

After  the  first  fulmination  against  the  race-suicide 
criminals,  we  find  Roosevelt  figuring  in  "Motherb' 
Congresses,"  and  such  like  assemblies,  ever  reiterating 
the  cardinal  idea.  All  mothers  "look  good"  to  Roose 
velt,  but  those  are  most  esteemed  who  can  exhibit  the 
longest  family  registers.  There  is  apparently  no  rec 
ognition  of  the  fact  that  there  are  mothers,  and  moth 
ers;  so-called  Christian  mothers  as  faithless  to  their 
trusts  as  Medea,  whilst  some  of  the  truest,  sweetest 
mothers  the  world  has  ever  known,  have  been  the  old- 
maid  guardians  of  orphaned  ones  who  never  tasted  the 
joys  of  maternity.  But  having  said  so  much  in  praise 
and  exaltation  of  the  office  and  estate  of  motherhood, 
we  shall  at  least  expect  to  find  President  Roosevelt 
treating  the  individual  mother — or  using  the  term 
genetically — the  individual  woman  with  marked  con 
sideration. 

Let  us  see  how  the  Rooseveltian  preachment  com 
ports  with  Rooseveltian  practice  in  this  regard  in  spe 
cific  instances. 

The  President  holds  every  year  certain  official  recep 
tions  ;  one  in  honor  of  the  Supreme  Court,  one  for  the 
Foreign  Ambassadors,  one  for  Congress,  and  one  for 
the  Army  and  Navy.  Not  a  great  while  after  Mr. 
Roosevelt  succeeded  to  the  presidency,  at  a  White 
House  reception  given  to  the  Supreme  Court,  some 
members  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  arriving  about  the 
same  time  as  the  Supreme  Justices,  through  some 
body's  blundering,  the  Diplomats  were  presented  to 
the  President  and  his  "receiving  line"  before  the  wait 
ing  justices  in  whose  honor  the  reception  was  held. 

This  was  of  course  a  serious  breach  of  official  eti- 


$%  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND    FABLE 

quette,  for  which  no  one,  however,  could  possibly  hold 
President  Roosevelt  responsible,  since  he  is  not  sup 
posed  to  attend  to  such  details.  While  it  was  regret 
table,  there  being  no  lives  lost  and  no  bones  broken, 
sensible  people  were  not  disposed  to  magnify  the  inci 
dent.  It  appears,  however,  that  some  of  the  justices 
were  resentful  (cherishing  a  great  notion  of  their  dig 
nity  as  one  of  their  constitutional  traditions),  and  even 
threatened  to  leave  without  greeting  the  President,  tho' 
they  did  not  carry  out  the  threat. 

The  Society  editor  of  one  of  the  Washington  dailies, 
a  woman  highly  respected  in  her  profession,  heard  in 
the  course  of  the  evening  the  remarks  of  the  offended 
justices,  and  in  her  report  of  the  reception,  she  re 
ferred  to  the  incident,  as  she  avers,  with  no  thought  of 
malice  or  wrong  doing.  Those  who  know  her  testify 
that  she  is  a  conscientious  and  accurate  reporter ;  that, 
with  large  opportunities  to  write  unpleasant  things,  she 
has  carefully  abstained  from  the  sensational  and  un 
worthy. 

But  Washington  correspondents  and  reporters  of 
every  class  and  degree  have  learned  that,  under  the 
Roosevelt  Administration,  it  is  a  flagrant  example  of 
lese  majeste  to  chronicle  any  misdeed  or  mischance 
occurring  at  the  White  House ;  and  this  Society  editor 
was  to  have  the  fact  impressed  on  her  in  most  uncom 
fortable  fashion.  As  soon  as  her  story  of  the  reception 
appeared  in  the  paper  next  day,  its  Managing  Editor 
received  a  phone  message  from  the  President's  private 
secretary,  telling  him  the  writer  of  the  story  would  no 
longer  be  permitted  to  enter  the  White  House,  and  he 
must  send  some  one  else  to  report  the  social  doings 
under  the  presidential  roof ;  if  he  desired  an  explana 
tion,  he  could  call  at  the  Executive  office.  It  is  un 
happily  true,  that  with  very  many  managing  editors — 
and  some  in  this  town  of  Washington,  such  a  message 
from  the  White  House  would  have  meant  dismissal 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  99 

for  the  offending  reporter.  But  fortunately  in  this 
case,  the  editor,  possessing  a  quality  which  many  lack, 
and  upon  investigation  rinding  his  Society  reporter 
had  only  stated  the  facts,  refused  to  be  influenced  by 
the  presidential  displeasure;  and  quietly  informed  the 
Executive  office  that  Miss  Blank  would  remain  in  his 
employ,  and  that  if  she  were  not  acceptable  to  the 
White  House  authorities,  he  would  make  up  his  paper 
without  the  chronicling  of  White  House  social  news 
thereafter.  And  for  three  years,  this  particular  Wrash- 
ington  paper  was  not  represented  at  White  House 
functions.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  the  owner  of  the 
paper  died,  and  the  office  changed  managing  editors, 
likewise  proprietors.  In  due  time  came  the  same  in 
sistent  demand  from  the  White  House  for  a  change  in 
the  head  of  the  Society  department,  and  the  new  man 
ager — being  of  different  caliber  to  the  old — acceded  to 
the  unworthy  request,  and  gave  Miss  Blank  her  dis 
charge.  Only  think  of  presidential  vengeance  pursu 
ing  for  three  years  a  young  woman  who  had  not  only 
her  own  living  to  earn,  but  upon  whose  efforts  com 
bined  with  her  sister's,  two  aged  and  semi-invalid  pa 
rents  were  dependent.  The  writer  had  the  young 
woman's  own  assurance  that  this  circumstance  was 
brought  to  Mr.  Roosevelt's  attention  by  her  friends, 
who  tried  in  vain  to  remove  from  her  the  Wliite  House 
cloud  of  disapproval.  Not  only  the  local  paper  with 
which  she  was  connected,  but  all  the  big  New  York 
press  bureaus,  which  had  employed  her  to  gather  their 
Washington  Society  notes,  were  notified  that  Miss 
Blank  was  persona  non  grata  at  the  White  House ;  and 
while  this  did  not  prevent  her  furnishing  to  them  social 
news  from  other  quarters,  it  greatly  crippled  her  use 
fulness,  and  involved  a  pecuniary  loss  to  her  of  four 
or  five  hundred  dollars  each  winter.  And  consider,  if 
you  please,  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  offence 
for  which  this  woman  suffered  this  persecution ! 


lOO  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

It  has  been  stated  in  certain  quarters,  that  not  the 
President,  but  his  wife  had  been  the  cause  of  this 
woman's  banishment  from  the  White  House,  that  Mr. 
Roosevelt  himself  had  so  stated  to  the  managing  editor. 

All  who  admire  the  President  more  in  this  Adamic 
role  are  welcome  to  accept  this  plea.  To  the  mind  of 
the  writer,  the  most  pathetic  feature  in  the  whole  story 
is,  that  the  mother  of  the  young  woman, — old  and  in 
valid,  and  hailing  from  the  rock-ribbed  Republican 
State  of  Pennsylvania,  grieved  most  of  all,  that  her 
daughter  should  have  fallen  under  the  displeasure  of  a 
Republican  President! 

In  the  summer  of  1903,  Postmaster-General  Payne 
(according  to  Historian  Leupp  removed  Miss  Huldah 
Todd,  postmistress  at  Greenwood,  Del.,  because  she 
was  distasteful  to  Senator  Allee,  the  latter  having 
donned  his  toga  by  the  grace  of  Addicks,  and  Miss 
Todd's  brothers — so  it  was  charged — were  guilty  of 
the  heinous  offence  of  belonging  to  the  anti-Addicks 
element  of  Delaware.  This  of  course  was  ample  cause 
for  overturning  Civil-Service  in  Miss  Todd's  case,  by 
an  administration  with  a  particularly  sensitive  con 
science  toward  Civil-Service.  But  Apologist  Leupp 
says  it  was  all  the  fault  of  that  "blundering"  Post 
master-General  Payne.  Payne  appears  to  have  been  as 
useful  in  the  capacity  of  scapegoat  in  those  early  days 
as  Wm.  Loeb,  Jr.,  in  more  recent  times. 

Anyway,  by  the  time  the  matter  was  brought  to  the 
attention  of  our  good  President,  the  deed  was  done, 
and  past  recall.  Sifting  the  evidence  in  his  most  judi 
cial  temper,  and  rinding  himself  in  "a  most  uncomfort 
able  position"  by  some  conflict  in  the  testimony,  he 
finally  delivered  a  verdict  as  convincing  as  it  was  orac 
ular,  and  must  have  been  entirely  satis fatcory  to  Miss 
Todd :  "Had  he  been  consulted  before  the  Postmaster- 
General  acted,  he  would  not  have  considered  the  case 
against  Miss  Todd  strong  enough  to  warrant  her  dis- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLfe  IOX 

missal ;  as  she  was  already  out,  however,  and  her  place 
filled,  he  did  not  consider  the  evidence  in  her  favor 
strong  enough  to  demand  her  reinstatement."  This 
reasonable  and  righteous  decree  does  not  appear  to 
have  met  with  the  popular  favor  it  deserved,  since 
Leupp  says :  "The  whole  effect  of  Mr.  Payne's  tactless 
performance  was  to  bring  unnecessary  public  censure 
upon  the  President,"  and  he  darkly  hints  that  for  less 
offences,  Cabinet  officers  have  resigned. 

The  saddest  case  wherein  a  woman  was  made  to  feel 
the  weight  of  the  "Big  Stick,"  which  has  fallen  under 
public  observation,  is  that  of  Mrs.  Minor  Morris,  the 
brutal  mode  of  whose  ejectment  from  the  White  House 
on  January  4,  1906,  shocked  the  whole  country — such 
portion  of  the  country  at  least  as  keep  their  sensibili 
ties  in  trim  for  receiving  a  shock.  Here  again,  nobody 
would  have  thought  of  holding  President  Roosevelt 
responsible — had  he  not  voluntarily  assumed  the  re 
sponsibility — since  the  outrage  upon  Mrs.  Morris  and 
affront  to  American  womanhood,  was  the  work  of  an 
ill-bred  underling — an  assistant  secretary  of  some  sort, 
and  the  ruffianly  White  House  guards  who  executed 
the  secretary's  order.  The  President  was  as  innocent 
of  the  outrage  as  he  was  ignorant  of  it  at  the  time  it 
occurred.  An  account  of  the  affair  appearing  in  one 
of  the  afternoon  papers,  however,  an  account  written 
by  an  eye-witness  of  the  proceedings,  and  which,  while 
exonerating  Mrs.  Morris  of  everything  except  a  fool 
ish  desire  to  petition  the  President  for  some  private 
grievance,  showed  the  conduct  of  the  under-secretary 
(whose  name  was  Barnes)  and  his  ruffianly  minions  in 
a  most  unfavorable  light, — President  Roosevelt  had  his 
private  secretary  write  to  the  editor  of  the  paper  that 
this  account  of  the  Morris  incident  published  by  him 
was  "very  displeasing  to  the  President  and  everyone 
else  at  the  White  House !" 

Whereupon  the  plucky  Washington  editor  (may  his 


IO2  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

tribe  increase!)  sent  back  the  prompt  and  vigorous 
reply  that  he  was  satisfied  his  reporter  had  stated  only 
the  facts  as  he  witnessed  them,  that  he — the  editor — • 
had  been  managing  his  paper  for  some  years  without 
any  suggestions  from  the  White  House,  and  if  the  "Big 
Stick"  was  to  inaugurate  a  policy  of  muzzling  the 
press,  it  must  begin  with  some  other  than  the  Wash 
ington  Evening  Star, — or  words  to  that  effect. 

The  Washington  Star  is  a  staunch  Republican  or 
gan,  and  up  to  the  date  of  the  Morris  incident  had 
been  a  consistent  supporter  of  the  Roosevelt  adminis 
tration.  Yet  its  venerable  and  respected  editor,  Mr. 
Crosby  S.  Noyes,  in  an  address  before  the  National 
Editorial  Association,  June  13,  1907,  speaking  of  Pres 
ident  Roosevelt,  said:  "His  hasty  approval  of  the 
brutal  deeds  of  his  subordinates  at  the  White  House 
when  the  'knock-down-and-drag-out'  outrage  was 
committed  upon  Mrs.  Minor  Morris,  a  refined,  cul 
tured,  respectable  Christian  woman,  was  an  act  of 
cruel,  heartless  injustice." 

The  incident  was  published  in  detail  by  the  press 
throughout  the  country  at  the  time,  but  as  some  of 
these  accounts — tho'  not  all — evinced  the  artistic 
touches  of  the  White  House  cuckoos,  ft  were  well  to 
state  the  facts  connected  with  it  in  this  truthful  his 
tory  of  Rooseveltian  acts,  that  all  men  may  know  them, 
and  be  able  to  distinguish  them  from  the  "inspired" 
fables  they  may  encounter  elsewhere. 

From  the  time  of  issuance  of  his  reprimand  to  the 
Evening  Star  for  publishing  the  truth,  President 
Roosevelt  made  Secretary  Barnes's  cause  his  own,  and 
the  movements  instituted  and  the  means  employed  to 
vindicate  Barnes,  must  be  considered  as  carrying  the 
President's  endorsement.  The  first  statement  of  the 
unhappy  occurrence,  given  out  by  a  newspaper  man 
who  witnessed  it  from  the  door  of  the  White  House 
press  room,  is  as  follows: 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE       IO3 

"Coming  in  from  lunch  at  I  o'clock,  I  noticed  in 
the  general  lobby,  near  Mr.  Loeb's  door,  a  lady  whom 
I  afterwards  found  out  to  be  Mrs.  Minor  Morris,  sit 
ting  very  quietly,  evidently  waiting  to  see  one  of  the 
secretaries. 

"She  was  not  different  in  appearance  from  other 
well-dressed  women,  and  I  gave  no  special  heed  to 
her,  as  I  passed  into  the  press-room — which  opens  off 
the  lobby — and  engaged  in  conversation  with  three 
other  newspaper  men  who  were  in  there.  The  door  to 
the  press-room  is  always  open,  and  as  it  was  near  the 
President's  lunch  hour,  everything  was  unusually 
quiet  in  the  lobby.  .  .  .  Very  suddenly  we  heard  a 
loud  exclamation  which  sounded  like,  'Oh,  no,  no ! 
Don't  do  that !' 

"All  of  us  jumped  to  the  door  and  entered  the  main 
room,  where  we  found  a  secret-service  man  and  Officer 
Freeh  in  the  act  of  pulling  the  woman  out  of  the  chair 
in  which  she  was  sitting.  Prior  to  this,  we  had  heard 
no  loud  voice,  and  I  am  positive  there  was  no  boister 
ous  conduct. 

"A  word  spoken  above  an  ordinary  tone  would  have 
reached  our  ears  very  easily.  The  men  pulled  the 
woman  to  the  door,  where  Officer  Murphy  relieved  the 
secret-service  man.  Their  object  was  to  get  her  to 
the  guard-room  just  opposite  the  Treasury  Building. 
To  do  this,  they  had  to  carry  her  down  the  path  lead- 
Ing  to  the  basement  of  the  White  House,  and  through 
the  long  corridor  used  during  receptions.  Before  go 
ing  twenty  feet  Mrs.  Morris  fell  to  her  knees,  but  was 
jerked  to  her  feet  and  dragged  on.  Before  they  dis 
appeared  from  sight,  she  must  have  fallen  six  or  eight 
times.  Just  before  disappearing  thro'  the  archway 
leading  to  the  basement,  I  saw  a  negro  man,  Charlie 
Reeder,  the  President's  footman,  rush  out  and  pick 
her  up  by  the  heels.  The  last  I  saw  of  Mrs.  Morris 
she  was  being  carried  off  like  a  sack  of  salt,  with  the 


IO4  ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

negro  at  her  feet,  and  her  dress  hanging  above  her 
knees.  I  went  around  to  the  guard-room,  and  saw 
Mrs.  Morris  literally  thrown  into  a  waiting  cab,  which 
carried  her  to  the  House  of  Detention." 

This  account  of  the  manner  of  Mrs.  Morris's  arrest 
and  expulsion  from  the  White  House,  was  corro 
borated  by  other  newspaper  men  who  were  in  the  press 
room  at  the  time,  and  who  had  no  plausible  motive  for 
misrepresentation.  Moved  by  the  indignation  ex 
pressed  in  the  local  press,  at  the  Capitol,  and  in  Wash 
ington  circles  generally,  Secretary  Barnes,  the  princi 
pal  in  the  disgraceful  scene,  issued  the  following 
statement  from  the  White  House,  manifestly  with  the 
President's  sanction :  "Mrs.  Morris  called  at  the 
Executive  office  yesterday  about  I  o'clock,  and  asked 
to  be  allowed  to  see  the  President.  .  .  .  Upon  in 
quiry  as  to  the  nature  of  her  business,  she  stated  with 
considerable  reluctance,  that  her  husband  had  been 
unjustly  dismissed  from  the  War  Department;  that 
she  did  not  propose  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the 
Secretary  of  War  concerning  it,  but  that  she  wanted 
the  President  to  take  it  up  and  see  that  justice  was 
done.  She  was  informed  that  the  President  could  not 
give  personal  attention  to  such  a  matter,  and  that  the 
decision  of  the  Secretary  of  War  would  be  final.  She 
insisted  that  she  must  see  the  President,  and  when  told 
that  that  was  out  of  the  question,  she  asserted  in  a 
boisterous  manner  that  she  would  not  be  prevented 
from  seeing  him,  and  that  she  would  remain  where 
she  was  for  a  month,  if  need  be,  unless  she  saw  him 
sooner.  She  was  allowed  to  remain  for  some  mo 
ments.  When  Mr.  Barnes  returned  to  the  reception 
room  shortly  after,  he  found  her  pacing  excitedly  to 
and  fro,  and  informed  her  as  quietly  as  possible,  that 
she  could  not  see  the  President,  and  it  would  be  use 
less  for  her  to  wait.  She  replied  in  a  loud  voice  that 
she  would  see  him,  and  that  she  would  stay  there 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  IO5 

until  she  did.  She  was  again  advised  to  drop  the 
matter  and  go  away  quietly.  This  in  still  louder  tones 
she  refused  to  do.  She  was  then  told  she  must  either 
leave  the  office  at  once  voluntarily,  or  it  would  be 
necessary  to  have  her  put  out  of  the  building.  At  this 
she  shrieked  at  the  top  of  her  voice,  'I  will  not  be 
put  out/  rushed  to  a  chair,  threw  herself  into  it, 
and  shouted:  'Don't  you  have  any  hands  laid  on  me. 
I'm  going  to  stay  here  until  I  see  the  President!'  Mrs. 
Morris's  piercing  shrieks  were  heard  throughout  the 
building,  and  it  became  necessary  in  the  interest  of 
order  to  have  her  removed.  She  was  accordingly 
taken  in  charge  by  a  police  officer  who  had  witnessed 
the  whole  affair.  He  asked  her  to  go  with  him  quietly. 
She  refused,  and  told  him  that  if  she  was  removed,  she 
would  have  to  be  dragged  every  step  of  the  way.  Be 
fore  applying  force,  the  officer  asked  her  three  times 
to  leave  the  office  quietly.  She  shrieked  her  refusal  to 
each  request,  and  was  then  led  from  the  room. 

"She  struggled  violently  with  the  two  police  officers, 
striking,  kicking  and  biting  them  all  the  way  from 
the  office  building  to  the  eastern  entrance  of  the 
White  House.  As  soon  as  she  was  outside  the  office 
building,  she  threw  herself  on  the  ground,  and  it  be 
came  necessary  to  carry  her.  The  officers  repeatedly 
asked  her  to  stand  up,  and  walk  quietly  with  them,  so 
that  they  would  not  to  have  to  use  force,  but  she  re 
fused  to  do  so,  and  defied  them  with  shrieks  that  were 
heard  throughout  the  White  House.  She  was  finally 
removed  to  police  headquarters,  where  she  was 
charged  with  disorderly  conduct.  .  .  .  There  is  no 
truth  whatever  in  the  statement  made  by  many  of  the 
morning  papers,  that  a  negro  laid  hold  of  Mrs.  Morris 
and  assisted  in  carrying  her.  One  of  the  colored 
messengers  of  the  office  followed  the  policemen,  and 
gathered  up  such  small  articles  as  were  dropped  in  the 


IO6       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

woman's  struggles,  but  there  was  no  other  foundation 
whatever  for  the  statement." 

As  will  be  seen,  this  Barnes  statement,  issued  undei 
Executive  approval,  represents  Mrs.  Morris  behaving 
very  badly  indeed  upon  the  occasion  of  her  ill-fated 
call  at  the  White  House,  and  like  the  story  turned  in 
by  the  cub  reporter,  "it  is  important,  if  true."  Con 
sidering  what  it  had  to  defend,  one  may  almost  forgive 
the  gross  exaggerations  and  whole-cloth  fabrications 
which  it  was  later  proven  to  contain. 

Mrs.  Morris  testified  that  Barnes's  statement  of 
what  occurred  was  wholly  false,  except  the  part  relat 
ing  to  telling  him  the  nature  of  her  business  with  the 
President,  which  she  did,  reluctantly  as  he  says,  be 
cause  he  informed  her  that  it  would  first  have  to  be 
transmitted  to  the  President  through  one  of  his  secre 
taries,  before  she  would  be  accorded  an  audience  with 
him,  if  at  all.  As  she  was  averse  to  speaking  to  him 
at  all  on  the  subject,  she  says  she  purposely  lowered 
her  voice,  that  others  might  not  hear;  that  when  told 
the  President  was  engaged,  and  could  not  see  her  then, 
she  had  replied  that  if  there  were  any  chance  of  seeing 
him  for  even  five  minutes,  she  would  gladly  wait  all 
day,  as  she  had  nothing  particular  to  do;  and  that, 
tho'  Mr.  Barnes  was  exceedingly  gruff  and  rude  in 
his  manner  from  the  outset,  she  at  no  time  raised  her 
voice  above  the  ordinary  tone  in  her  pleading  with 
him  for  a  presidential  hearing,  until  he  signalled  to  the 
officers  to  seize  her,  and  then  she  uttered  the  exclama 
tion  heard  in  the  press-room,  and  which  brought  the 
reporters  on  the  scene.  As  her  story  in  this  particular 
is  fully  corroborated  by  five  or  six  reputable  newspa 
per  men  of  Washington,  there  seems  no  good  reason 
to  doubt  it,  nor  to  accept  in  lieu  of  it  Barnes's  state 
ment  that  "her  shrieks  rang  throughout  the  White 
House"  before  he  ordered  her  forcibly  removed — not 
even  though  the  latter  was  issued  under  Executive 


ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE  107 

sanction.  Of  his  assertion  that  she  threw  herself  on 
the  ground,  Mrs.  Morris  said  she  fainted, — and  this 
also  is  easily  credited,  if  there  was  any  faint  in  her — 
that  was  certainly  the  occasion  for  it.  It  is  the  greater 
pity  that  the  poor  woman  could  not  remain  uncon 
scious  throughout  the  whole  degrading  proceedings. 
Barnes,  later,  was  forced  to  retract  his  emphatic  denial 
of  the  negro  footman's  part  in  the  dragging-out  per 
formance.  Too  many  witnesses  wrere  found  who  had 
"seen  it  with  their  own  eyes,"  and  told  Mr.  Barnes 
so,  up  and  down,  without  any  blinking.  Then  the 
noble  secretary,  backed  by  his  chivalrici  chief,  took 
refuge  behind  the  excuse  that  the  officers  who  reported 
the  matter  to  him,  had  their  attention  so  engrossed  by 
the  struggling,  screaming  Mrs.  Morris,  that  they  could 
not  affirm  positively  (tho'  Mr.  Barnes  had  affirmed 
very  positively  for  them)  who  else  had  assisted  their 
humane  efforts.  This  is  what  "Uncle  Remus"  would 
call  "a  mighty  likely  tale!"  Their  engrossed  atten 
tion  also  prevented  their  noticing  or  affirming  posi 
tively  who  subtracted  the  seven  or  eight  dollars  from 
the  purse,  which  was  dropped  with  the  other  "small 
articles  in  the  woman's  struggles,"  and  which  Mrs. 
Morris  said  was  empty  when  returned  to  her. 

Consider  this  for  a  moment,  if  you  will,  fellow- 
citizens  of  free  America!  An  American  mother,  a 
lady  and  a  Christian,  is  insulted,  assaulted,  and  robbed 
in  the  White  Palace  by  the  Potomac  which  was  built 
for  Washington,  occupied  by  Jefferson,  Madison, 
Monroe  and  the  two  Adamses;  by  the  chivalric  Jack 
son,  and  the  great-hearted  Lincoln,  and  the  silent,  pro 
digious  Captain  who  said,  "Let  us  have  peace."  In 
all  the  long,  illustrious  line  of  American  Presidents 
who  had  gone  before,  there  was  none  whose  reign  had 
looked  on  such  a  spectacle.  Let  us  at  least  return 
thanks  for  this. 

And  what  said  Theodore  Roosevelt,  the  then  occu- 


io8  ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

pant  of  the  historic  mansion,  of  this  unseemly  happen, 
ing  beneath  his  official  roof -tree? 

Surely  the  President  who  has  gone  out  of  his  way 
to  expatiate  more  than  all  his  predecessors  upon  the 
dignity  and  beatitude  of  motherhood,  as  soon  as  the 
facts  in  the  case  are  brought  out,  will  repent  his  hasty 
message  to  the  Evening  Star,  will  use  "the  Big  Stick" 
upon  the  miscreant  Barnes,  and  send  some  kindly 
message  of  apology  to  his  victim? 

We  shall  see.  The  ejectment  occurred  on  January 
4th.  On  the  I7th,  Senator  Tillman — whose  special 
mission  in  the  United  States  Senate  is  to  see  that  no 
Roosevelt  misdemeanors  "get  by,"  without  his  ringing 
the  publicity  bells  on  them — announced  more  in  sor 
row  than  anger,  that  he  had  waited  nearly  two  weeks 
for  the  President  to  make  reparation,  and  finally,  fail 
ing  to  discover  that  the  Chief  Magistrate  who  had  sent 
a  message  of  sympathy  to  Fitzsimmons,  the  prize 
fighter,  had  made  any  movement  to  assuage  Mrs.  Mor 
ris's  injured  feelings,  he  (Tillman)  felt  it  his  duty, 
&c.,  &c. 

As  he  was  detailing  the  incident  in  his  graphic  way, 
Tillman  was  interrupted  by  Senator  Hale  of  Maine, — 
that  same  Senator  Hale,  who  on  a  former  occasion, 
had  risen  with  so  much  dignity,  and  announced :  "If 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  will  but  modify  his 
extreme  language  toward  the  Chief  Executive,  I  will 
assure  him  of  my  support  in  his  resolution  against  the 
'constructive  recess'  proposition.  I  believe  the  Con 
stitution  of  our  fathers  to  be  a  frank,  open  document, 
framed  by  open,  fair-minded  men,  who  never  intended 
it  to  be  a  trap  for  any  of  us." 

And  now  Senator  Hale,  with  equal  dignity,  sternly 
rebuked  Tillman  for  "making  such  serious  and  de 
famatory  charges  against  the  President  of  all  the 
United  States, — having  nothing  whatever  that  he  ad 
duces  as  proof.  It  is  not  seemly  that  he  should 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

tliis  chamber  the  place  to  exploit  his  personal  malice 
toward  the  nation's  Chief." 

The  Senator  from  Maine  should  have  learned  ere 
this,  that  Tillman,  tho'  only  "a  corn-field  lawyer/'  upon 
his  own  confession — seldom  came  into  court  without 
his  "proofs"  well-primed  and  assorted.  White  with 
wrath,  tho'  with  marvelous  composure  (for  him),  he 
now  faced  the  Maine  Senator : 

"I  want  to  say  to  you,  sir,  that  if  you  will  offer  a 
resolution  appointing  a  committee  of  this  body, — 
composed  of  Republicans  alone — to  examine  into  the 
facts,  I  will  give  you  the  names  of  four  witnesses,  as 
reputable  as  you  or  I,  who  will  swear  to  the  statement 
I  have  made  as  to  what  actually  occurred." 

Hale  not  anticipating  this  broadside,  wavered  some 
what,  but  resuming  the  original  line  of  attack,  reiter 
ated,  "Let  us  have  the  proof";  and  Tillman  fired  back: 
"Bring  on  your  committee." 

Finally,  after  some  sparring,  Hale,  who  had  raised 
the  issue,  told  Tillman,  if  he  would  offer  a  resolution 
for  an  investigation  into  the  facts  of  the  case,  "no 
body  on  this  side  the  Chamber  will  oppose  your  reso 
lution." 

Tillman,  never  the  man  to  decline  a  gage-of -battle 
flung  squarely  in  his  teeth,  thereupon  gave  notice  that 
he  would  offer  such  a  resolution  in  the  Senate  the  fol 
lowing  morning.  Then  rose  up  that  courtly  gentle 
man  of  the  old  school,  Senator  Daniel  of  Virginia,  and 
"hoped  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  would  re 
consider  this  intention.  Not  that  he — Daniel — as 
everybody  knew,  would  condone  any  mistreatment  or 
discourtesy  shown  a  lady.  But  he  did  not  consider  it 
seemly  or  consistent  with  senatorial  dignity  or  good 
taste,  for  the  Senate  to  inquire  into  the  domestic 
affairs  of  the  President's  house,  any  more  than  it 
would  be  proper  for  the  President  to  inquire  into 
domestic  happenings  in  a  Senator's  home.  He  thought 


IIO  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

they  must  assume  that  the  President  would  do  thft 
proper  thing  in  the  matter,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 

Ironically  acknowledging  his  indebtedness  to  both 
the  Senator  from  Maine  and  from  Virginia,  for  the 
lesson  in  manners  he  so  much  needed,  Tillman  stuck  to 
his  text:  Barnes  was  a  public  servant,  paid  out  of  the 
public  Treasury ;  Congress  appropriated  the  money 
from  which  he  was  paid.  If  he  had  been  guilty  of 
improper  and  unofficial  conduct,  and  his  official  mas 
ter,  the  President  of  the  United  States,  failed  to  call 
him  to  account,  it  was  both  the  right  and  the  duty  of 
Congress  to  inquire  into  his  offence. 

Stating  further  that  he  would  leave  the  question  of 
senatorial  dignity,  courtesy,  &c.,  for  the  Maine  and 
Virginia  and  other  Senators  to  settle,  whilst  he  would 
strive  to  see  justice  done  to  this  maltreated  woman. 

True  to  his  word,  next  morning  Tillman  offered  his 
resolution,  and  Senator  Daniel,  pursuing  his  courteous 
idea,  promptly  moved  to  table  it. 

All  the  Democratic  Southern  Senators,  who  couldn't 
dodge  it  by  being  either  absent  or  "paired,"  voted  with 
the  Virginia  Senator,  except  eight: 

The  two  Senators  from  Kentucky,  two  from  Mis 
sissippi,  two  from  South  Carolina,  one  from  Mis 
souri  (Stone),  and  the  one  from  Tennessee  (Frazier), 
who  was  present,  voted  to  sustain  Senator  Tillman's 
resolution  of  inquiry. 

All  the  Republican  Senators  voted  to  table  it  except 
Hale,  who  taking  counsel  only  of  his  own  fairminded- 
ness,  had  assured  Tillman  that  "no  one  on  that  side 
of  the  Chamber  would  oppose  it." 

Foiled  in  his  honest  purpose,  and  rebuked  by  his 
own  Southern  colleagues  for  a  breach  of  senatorial 
decorum,  Tillman  subsided  on  the  Morris  case  for 
some  weeks.  The  nine-days'  wonder  over,  the  inci 
dent  would  probably  have  slept  with  others  of  its  kind 
in  the  limbo  of  things  forgot,  had  President  Roosevelt 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  III 

been  content  to  let  bad  enough  alone.  But  his  Strenu- 
osity  never  goes  in  for  half-way  measures  in  such 
laudable  undertakings  as  this.  By  way  of  further  put 
ting  the  seal  of  his  approval  on  Barnes,  and  the  stigma 
of  his  disapproval  upon  Mrs.  Morris,  Roosevelt  on 
April  i  1906,  appointed  his  delectable  under-secretary 
to  be  City  Postmaster  for  the  city  of  Washington,  one 
of  the  most  important  and  lucrative  positions  within 
the  gift  of  the  Executive. 

When  the  Barnes  appointment  came  to  the  Senate 
for  confirmation,  Tillman  brandished  the  "pitch- fork" 
afresh.  He  sent  a  written  statement  to  the  Committee 
on  Post-offices  and  Post-roads,  preferring  specific 
charges  against  Barnes:  That  he  had  been  guilty  of 
brutal  conduct  in  ordering  Mrs.  Morris's  arrest,  and 
had  issued  a  false  statement  about  it  afterwards ;  that 
he  had  lodged  a  charge  of  insanity  against  Mrs.  Mor 
ris,  causing  her  to  remain  a  prisoner  several  hours; 
and  that  he  had  caused  the  circulation  of  stories  derog 
atory  to  her  character  and  mental  condition. 

To  these  charges  against  Barnes,  Tillman  ap 
pended  the  names  of  seven  well-known  newspaper  men 
of  Washington,  whom  he  asked  to  have  called  as  wit 
nesses  in  the  case. 

The  battle  was  on  between  the  "pitch-fork"  and 
"the  Big  Stick." 

Roosevelt  was  forced  to  go  through  the  form  of 
ordering  an  "investigation"  of  the  Barnes-Morris  inci 
dent.  Maj.  Sylvester,  Chief  of  Police  for  the  City  of 
Washington,  conducted  the  investigation.  Some  very 
interesting  facts  were  brought  out  in  the  evidence 
submitted.  Tillman  reviewed  them  all  in  the  open 
Senate,  and  they  were  inserted  in  the  Congressional 
Record  of  that  date,  where  they  may  be  found  to-day. 

It  appeared  that  Officer  Freeh,  Barnes's  brother-in- 
law,  and  one  of  those  to  execute  his  brutal  order,  had 
at  first  only  charged  Mrs.  Morris  with  "disorderly 


112  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

conduct"  when  they  arrived  at  the  police  station;  but 
on  returning  to  the  White  House,  and  conferring  with 
his  amiable  relative,  he  learned  that  he  should  have 
said  she  was  crazy;  and  he  accordingly  rushed  back 
and  lodged  the  additional  charge  of  insanity.  This 
necessitated  holding  her  a  prisoner,  until  a  medical 
board  could  be  found  to  pass  upon  her  sanity.  The 
doctors,  when  called,  promptly  removed  the  charge  of 
insanity,  saying  that  while  much  shaken  up,  and  very 
hysterical,  "she  was  not  insane." 

One  of  the  things  adduced  by  the  argument  for  the 
defense,  as  evidence  of  Mrs.  Morris's  mental  disor 
ders,  was  the  statement  of  the  police  matron,  that  as 
soon  as  she  was  released  from  the  grip  of  the  officers, 
"she  fell  on  her  knees  in  the  parlor  of  the  Detention 
House,  and  prayed  aloud !" 

Tillman's  expression  in  commenting  upon  this  dam 
aging  testimony,  was  very  characteristic  and  amusing. 

Numerous  letters  and  statements  were  produced,  all 
dealing  with  Mrs.  Morris's  peculiarities  and  eccen 
tricities,  to  show  how  little  deserving  she  was  of  any 
public  sympathy.  About  the  most  important  of  these 
was  a  statement  obtained  from  Dr..  A.  B.  Weaver  of 
Asheville,  N.  C,  to  the  effect  that  Mrs.  Morris,  two 
years  before  on  her  return  from  Florida,  had  stopped 
in  Asheville,  and  been  under  the  professional  care  of 
Dr.  Weaver,  who  testified  that,  "she  was  very  pe 
culiar  indeed, — what  is  commonly  called  a  crank." 

When  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Morris  issued  a  statement, 
sworn  to  before  a  notary  public,  that  neither  of  them 
had  ever  been  in  Asheville,  N.  C.,  neither  two  years 
previous  nor  at  any  other  time,  "this  pink  of  medical 
propriety" — as  Tillman  characterized  him — issued  a 
retraction  in  the  Asheville  paper,  saying  he  "had 
treated  a  Mrs.  Morris  at  the  time  referred  to,  but 
whether  Mrs.  Minor  Morris,  or  some  other  Morris, 
he  could  not  say  positively;  he  had  supposed  it  to  IP 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

the  same  from  the  fact  her  husband  was  a  physician, 
but  he  really  did  not  remember  the  first  name  of  his 
former  patient;  and  he  concluded  by  complaining  that 
he  had  been  tricked  into  making  an  unprofessional 
statement  about  a  patient,  having  believed  it  to  be 
confidential,  and  not  for  publication." 

The  Weaver  deposition  was  typical  of  many  others, 
and  whatever  credence  should  attach  to  them,  they 
bear  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  fact,  that  somebody 
had  been  in  the  "muck-raking"  business, — to  further 
increase  the  woes  of  Mrs.  Minor  Morris ;  and 
whether  Barnes  or  Roosevelt  had  manipulated  the 
"muck-rake"  will  be  settled  according  to  individual 
opinion  and  preference.  Tillman  also  pointed  out  the 
important  fact  that  none  of  these  so-called  "affidavits" 
collected  for  Maj.  Sylvester's  use,  which  had  any 
bearing  on  the  case,  were  sworn  to ;  but  were  simply 
uncertified  statements;  that  he  (Tillman)  had  person 
ally  inspected  them  all  and  knew  such  to  be  the  fact. 
He  stated  it  on  his  honor  as  a  senator,  at  any  rate, 
showing  the  farcical  character  of  Maj.  Sylvester's 
"investigation."  Tillman  likewise  called  attention  to 
the  very  peculiar  circumstance,  that  of  the  seven 
newspaper  witnesses  whom  he  had  cited,  only  one, 
Elmer  E.  Payne,  had  been  permitted  to  testify  in  the 
case.  He  had  prepared,  at  someone's  request,  a 
"memorandum"  for  the  President,  which  set  forth  Mr. 
Barnes's  conduct  in  the  best-possible  light;  applying 
the  white-wash  brush  deftly  where  it  was  most  needed, 
and  conveying  the  general  impression  that  the  under 
secretary  "had  really  done  the  best  he  could,  under 
the  circumstances!"  This  "memorandum"  showed  a 
marked  revision  of  Mr.  Payne's  first  impression  of  the 
affair,  as  according  to  his  associates  in  the  press-room, 
he  was  as  indignant  as  any  of  them  the  afternoon  it 
occurred. 

Tillman's   illuminating  "pitch-fork"   brought   forth 


114  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

the  further  interesting  circumstance,  that,  about  the 
time  Maj.  Sylvester  and  Elmer  E.  Payne  rendered 
their  important  services  to  the  cause  of  Barnes,  two 
Annapolis  cadetships  were  awarded  by  the  President 
to  the  two  sons  respectively,  of  Maj.  Sylvester  and  of 
Mr.  Payne.  Of  course,  it  might  only  have  been  a 
coincidence,  wholly  unconnected  with  the  Barnes  case, 
but  Tillman  regarded  it  as  "very  peculiar"  (almost  as 
"peculiar"  as  Mrs.  Morris  herself) — the  more  espe 
cially,  as  the  President  is  supposed  to  award  the  cadet- 
ships  within  his  bestowal  only  to  sons  of  Army  and 
Navy  officers,  who  have  no  congressional  districts 
from  which  they  could  be  appointed.  Merely  a  coin 
cidence,  but  "very  peculiar!" 

To  make  a  long  story  short,  Mr.  Barnes  was  vindi 
cated  and  confirmed,  and  still  rules  over  the  City  Post- 
Office  in  Washington.  "The  Big  Stick"  had  prevailed 
over  the  "Pitch- fork,"  as  was  of  course  to  be  ex 
pected;  but  it  is  such  a  valiant  and  fearless  "Pitch 
fork"  withal,  that  the  mothers  of  the  country  at  least 
should  pause  to  do  it  reverence. 

In  concluding  his  defence  of  Mrs.  Morris,  Senator 
Tillman  said :  "It  is  not  my  province  to  play  Don 
Quixote,  and  roam  around  the  country,  in  Washington, 
or  elsewhere,  as  the  champion  of  distressed  women. 
But  in  my  home,  since  my  mother  now  dead,  used  to 
hug  me  to  her  bosom  and  say — "My  son,  tell  the 
truth' ;  and  since  her  departure,  my  association  for  38 
years  with  another  woman  as  wife  who  has  been  an 
inspiration  and  solace,  my  every  instinct  as  a  man  has 
taught  me  to  respect  and  love  women. 

"And  when  I  see  a  man  who  ought  to  be  a  gentle 
man,  altho'  in  high  official  position,  ignore  his  plain 
duty  to  seek  out  the  truth,  make  due  apology,  right  the 
wrong  as  far  as  he  could,  and  punish  those  about  him 
who  are  guilty  of  this  outrage,  I  would  have  been  false 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  115 

to  every  instinct  of  my  nature,  if  I  had  remained  silent 
on  this  occasion.  .  .  . 

In  a  magazine  article  (Sept.  Review  of  Reviews, 
1896),  Mr.  Roosevelt  once  observed:  "In  Tillman 
and  Watson  is  embodied  retribution  on  the  South  for 
having  failed  to  educate  her  cracker,  the  poor  white 
which  gives  them  strength." 

It  is  related  that,  after  Mr.  Watson  had  explained 
to  Roosevelt's  satisfaction  that  he  did  not  belong  in 
the  "cracker"  class,  but  had  had  a  "grandfather" — 
who,  if  the  Honorable  Tom's  account  is  to  be  credited, 
was  really  more  distinguished  than  any  Roosevelt 
grandfather  of  whom  we  have  record,  the  gracious 
Roosevelt  promptly  made  the  amende  honourable  for 
his  error  in  Mr.  Watson's  case.  Senator  Tillman 
(whose  lineage  is  probably  as  good  as  either  Wat 
son's  or  Roosevelt's)  declined  to  join  in  the  "grand 
father"  controversy,  thereby  demonstrating  himself  a 
better  man  than  either. 

Questions  of  family,  rank,  and  official  titles  aside, 
it  may  be  safely  left  to  the  chivalric  sense  of  the  world 
to  decide,  whether  Senator  Tillman  or  President 
Roosevelt  appears  in  the  more  manly  role,  in  the  un 
happy  occurrence  above  related.  And  Mrs.  Morris, 
what  of  her?  Ah,  yes,  Mrs.  Morris!  The  newspa 
pers  stated  about  a  year  ago  that  "Mrs.  Minor  Mor 
ris,  the  lady  so  summarily  ejected  from  the  White 
House  some  time  ago,  has  been  adjudged  insane  by  a 
board  of  alienists,  and  sent  to  a  private  sanitarium." 

That  was  all.  Just  a  press-dispatch,  but  to  those 
acquainted  with  the  circumstances,  how  full  of  tragic 
import!  A  Washington  woman  of  high  character 
and  culture,  who  was  associated  with  Mrs.  Morris  in 
the  League  of  American  Pen- women,  testified  of  her: 
"She  zi'as  a  little  peculiar,  tho'  I  always  liked  her,  per 
ceiving  her  good  traits  as  well  as  her  peculiarities. 
She  was  one  of  the  brainiest  women  in  the  League, 


Il6  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

and  perhaps  the  most  accomplished.  Besides  being 
an  essayist  and  poet  of  no  mean  order,  she  was  a 
brilliant  pianist,  having  had  exceptional  advantages  in 
the  best  musical  schools  of  Europe.  Her  technique 
surpassed  that  of  many  professionals.  She  was  kind- 
hearted,  and  deeply  religious.  She  was  moreover  a 
very  generous  woman  with  her  means,  and  more  loyal 
in  her  friendships  than  the  average  woman.  I  always 
found  her  truthful  and  honorable.  She  was  foolishly 
fond  of  her  husband  (perhaps  this  made  her  "a  little 
peculiar"  in  the  City  of  Washington),  and  that  was 
what  caused  her  trouble.  She  didn't  care  for  the  sal 
ary  attached  to  her  husband's  position  in  the  War  De 
partment,  but  she  felt  that  some  sort  of  disgrace  or 
blight  hung  over  him  because  of  it.  And  so  she  re 
solved  in  his  absence  to  make  her  appeal  to  the  Presi 
dent,  with  such  unhappy  sequel.  She  was  extremely 
jealous  of  her  dignity,  and  this,  added  to  her  quick, 
excitable  temper,  made  her  a  little  inharmonious  with 
some  members  of  the  League.  Her  husband  seemed 
fond  of  her  also,  and  they  appeared  very  happy  in 
their  home." 

"Jealous  of  her  dignity,"  super-sensitive,  ah !  pitying 
Heaven!  What  agonies  of  mortification  must  this 
woman  have  endured!  Is  it  matter  for  wonder,  that 
brooding  over  her  wrongs,  smarting  under  her  deep 
humiliation,  morbid  imaginings  took  possession  of  her 
reason  ?  And  does  the  man  who  has  such  keen  appre 
ciation  of  retributive  justice  for  others,  and  keeps 
such  close  tab  on  cause  and  effect,  where  it  involves 
a  local  election,  that  he  sent  his  Secretary  of  State  to 
New  York  to  charge  the  murder  of  McKinley  on 
Wm.  Randolph  Hearst — in  a  Marc  Anthony  harangue 
over  Caesar's  body — does  he  feel  no  twinge  of  con 
science  for  this  chattering  mad-woman,  and  the  wreck 
of  her  happy  home?  Her  only  offence  so  far  as  he 
was  concerned,  was  taking  at  its  full  face  value  his 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  117 

posing  as  Haroun  the  Just;  and  such  was  her  faith 
in,  and  admiration  for  him,  that  one  little  kindly 
message  from  him  would  have  gone  far  toward  heal 
ing  her  wounds,  grievous  tho'  they  were.  But  it  might 
not  be. 

Platitudes  anent  mothers,  and  motherhood  in  the 
abstract,  are  one  thing.  Kindness  to  real  mothers,  if 
it  involves  any  sacrifice  of  the  doctrine  of  Roosevelt 
infallibility,  is  what  Kipling  calls  "another  story." 


Since  this  went  to  press,  Mrs.  Morris  has  returned 
to  Washington  in  normal  mental  health,  having  es 
caped  from  the  asylum  where  she  was  fraudulently 
detained  for  ten  months,  as  she  will  undertake  to  prove 
in  the  courts. 


Il8       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 


CHAPTER   X. 

ROOSEVELT   AND  THE   CATHOLIC   CHURCH. 

There  is  a  craning  of  necks  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Fifteenth  street,  on  Sunday  mornings,  among  those 
citizens  of  Washington,  in  whom  the  sight  of  the 
President  is  still  potent  to  cause  a  flutter  of  excite 
ment. 

For  at  such  times,  President  Roosevelt  may  be  seen, 
attended  by  his  secret-service  guard,  betaking  his  way 
with  his  "seven-league-boot"  stride  to  the  Dutch  Re 
formed  church  near  Fifteenth  and  O  streets,  where  he 
claims  membership,  and  where,  when  in  Washington, 
he  is  consistent  in  attendance. 

Knowing  his  church  affiliations  to  be  Protestant, 
one  does  not  readily  understand  the  statement  so  fre 
quently  made,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  owes 
much  of  his  power  and  popularity  to  the  friendship 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  While  the  religious 
tolerance  prescribed  by  our  Constitution  makes  it  in 
cumbent  upon  the  President  to  treat  Catholics  with  as 
much  consideration  as  other  sects,  there  is  no  good 
reason,  easily  discerned,  why  these  should  be  shown 
any  special  favors  over  others — by  our  Chief  Execu 
tive.  Yet  such  seems  to  have  been  the  fact  in  the  case 
cf  President  Roosevelt,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
his  friends. 

At  a  White  House  dinner  given  to  capital  and  labor 
leaders  on  Nov.  12,  1904,  shortly  after  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  election  to  the  presidency,  the  Hon.  Paul  Mor 
ton,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  (and  of  subsequent  Santa 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

Fe  notoriety),  one  of  the  speakers  of  the  occasion, 
among  other  felicitations,  said:  "It  is  a  notable  fact, 
without  an  important  exception,  that  the  Catholic 
press  of  the  United  States  supported  President  Roose 
velt  in  the  last  election.  The  policy  of  the  United 
States  in  working  in  hearty  co-operation  with  the 
Catholic  church  in  settling  the  question  of  friar  lands 
in  the  Philippines,  is  believed  to  have  stimulated  this 
friendliness." 

As  the  haziest  notions  appear  to  exist  in  the  minds 
of  Americans,  in  regard  to  the  "friar  lands"  transac 
tion,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  review  the  facts,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  uninformed,  misinformed,  and  o'er  well- 
informed. 

When,  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris  which  marked  the 
close  of  Spanish-American  hostilities,  the  United 
States  came  into  possession  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
and  all  of  the  inhabitants  thereof,  not  the  least  of  the 
troubles  we  acquired  by  this  cession  was  the  compli 
cation  arising  from  what  were  known  as  "the  friar 
lands"  in  the  Philippine  Archipelago. 

These  lands,  comprising  about  425,000  acres,  had 
been  appropriated  by  the  religious  orders  of  Spanish 
priests,  or  friars,  more  especially  the  Dominicans,  the 
Augustinians,  and  the  Recoletos  (the  "barefoot" 
friars),  who  during  the  Spanish  sovereignty  of  the 
Archipelago,  were  the  virtual  and  actual  rulers  of  the 
Filipinos,  having  been  invested  by  Spain  with  all  pow 
ers,  political  and  governmental,  as  well  as  ecclesiasti- 
ca  and  educational.  The  friars  were  the  instruments 
of  the  oppressive  rule  in  the  Islands  with  which  Spain 
was  charged,  and  typified  to  the  people  the  worst  ex 
actions  of  the  tyrannous  home  government.  In  the 
two  revolts  against  the  Spanish  government  which 
had  occurred  in  the  Philippines  before  the  United 
States  came  into  the  game,  a  bitter  feeling  of  hatred 
and  opposition  had  grown  up  among  the  people 


I2O  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

against  the  friars,  which  was  agrarian  as  well  as  po 
litical.  When  sovereignty  over  the  Islands  was  trans 
ferred  from  Spain  to  the  United  States,  whose  Consti 
tution  requires  absolute  separation  of  church  and 
state  wherever  American  jurisdiction  extends,  the 
problem  for  the  New  Philippine  Government  was,  how 
to  get  rid  of  the  friars  who  had  already  caused  so 
much  trouble,  and  tho'  stripped  of  their  civil  func 
tions  by  the  new  authority,  were  still  potent  to  cause 
a  seething  tumult  wherever  they  appeared.  During 
the  war,  many  of  these  priests  had  been  driven  from 
their  respective  parishes  into  Manilla,  where  they 
were  under  the  protection  of  the  American  soldiery, 
and  by  the  Treaty  of  Paris,  as  well  as  by  the  American 
Constitution,  were  guaranteed  freedom  of  speech  and 
religious  opinion.  They  claimed  the  ownership  and 
control  of  these  large  agricultural  tracts,  as  "vested 
property  rights,"  and  they  were  demanding  rentals  of 
their  Filipino  tenants  upon  the  one  hand, — which  the 
Filipinos  refused  to  pay,  or  from  the  New  Philippine 
Government  upon  the  other,  the  prompt  eviction  of 
these  delinquent  tenants.  The  people  held  that  the 
friars  had  no  just  claim  to  these  lands,  having  plun- 
derously  seized  them  to  begin  with,  and  extortionately 
used  them  afterwards. 

However,  the  friars  having  been  sustained  in  their 
proprietary  rights  for  ages  by  the  Spanish  Govern 
ment,  and  by  the  supreme  head  of  the  church,  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  and  enjoying  the  traditional  advan 
tage  of  the  "nine  points"  of  possession,  the  United 
States  Government  resolved,  in  the  interest  of  peace 
in  the  Islands,  to  purchase  anew  from  the  friars — or 
from  their  ecclesiastical  head,  the  Pope,  these  lands — 
which  the  United  States  had  already  acquired  from 
Spain  by  treaty,  and  by  the  payment  of  $20,000,000 
for  both  the  Islands  and  the  peoples.  And  so  it  fell 
out,  that  the  then  Governor-General  of  the  Philip- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  121 

pines,  William  H.  Taft,  being  on  a  visit  to  the  United 
States  in  the  Spring  of  1902,  was  commissioned  by 
President  Roosevelt  to  "go  by"  Rome  on  his  return  to 
the  Islands,  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  with  Pope 
Leo  the  purchase  of  "friar  lands"  in  the  Philippines. 

Although  there  was  official  denial  of  any  diplomatic 
import  in  Mr.  Taft's  mission  to  the  Vatican,  our  Con 
stitution  not  permitting  any  diplomatic  relations  with 
any  sort  of  church  dignitary,  the  correspondence  be 
tween  the  Governor-General  and  the  Holy  See,  bears 
all  the  usual  "ear-marks"  of  diplomatic  exchanges. 
True,  Governor  Taft's  letter  of  instructions  from 
Secretary  of  War  Root  contained  the  paragraph: 

"Your  errand  will  not  be  in  any  sense  or  degree 
diplomatic  in  its  nature,  but  will  be  purely  a  business 
matter  of  negotiation  by  you  as  Governor  of  the  Phil 
ippines  for  the  purchase  of  property  from  the  owners 
thereof,  and  the  settlement  of  land  titles,  in  such  man 
ner  as  to  contribute  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people 
of  the  Islands." 

But  this  same  letter  of  instructions  concludes  with 
the  usual  assurance  to  regularly  appointed  ambassa 
dors  and  envoys-extraordinary  to  Foreign  Courts. 

"Any  assistance  which  you  may  desire,  whether  on 
the  part  of  officers  of  the  civil  government  or  of  mili 
tary  officers,  to  enable  you  to  perform  the  duties 
above  described  (the  negotiations  with  the  Vatican) 
in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  yourself,  will  be  afforded/* 

Governor  Taft  also  carried  credential  letters  from 
Mr.  Hay,  Secretary  of  State,  and  from  Mr.  Roosevelt, 
the  President  of  United  States,  together  with  a  pres 
ent  from  the  latter  to  Pope  Leo,  consisting  of  a  set  of 
his  literary  works!  Mr.  Taft's  first  formal  greeting 
to  the  Papal  See,  upon  arrival,  opened  with:  "Your 
Holiness :  On  my  departure  from  Washington,  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  committed  to  my  hands  an  autograph 
note  of  personal  greeting,  and  eight  bound  volumes  of 


122        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

his  literary  works  to  be  delivered  to  your  Holi 
ness."  .  .  . 

Further  diving  into  the  "diplomatic  correspond 
ence"  connected  with  this  affair,  does  not  divulge  the 
fact  that  there  was  any  express  stipulation  that  His 
Holiness  should  read  the  "eight  bound  volumes"  thus 
presented,  tho'  if  there  were  any  implied  obligation  of 
that  kind,  it  may  account  in  part  for  the  non-success 
of  Ambassador  Taft's  main  proposition  to  the  Vati 
can.  At  any  rate,  it  would  seem  a  wise  precaution,  in 
future  missions  of  this  delicate  nature,  to  leave  out 
the  "literary  works." 

In  an  article  published  in  the  Independent  (of  Aug. 
14,  1902)  entitled  "The  First  American  Mission  to 
the  Vatican,"  Salvatore  Cortesi,  the  Rome  corre 
spondent  of  the  American  Associated  Press,  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  Mr.  Taft's  proceedings  upon 
his  arrival  in  Rome.  Cortesi  writes  as  a  resident  Cath 
olic,  and  a  faithful  reporter  of  news : 

"From  Washington  they  had  taken  great  pains  to 
proclaim  that  the  mission  of  the  Governor  of  the  Phil 
ippines  had  not  the  least  diplomatic  character,  the 
Constitution  not  allowing  the  United  States  to  enter 
tain  relations  of  that  kind  with  any  head  of  any  re 
ligion.  However,  Judge  Taft  was  provided  with  cre 
dentials  and  with  an  autograph  letter  from  President 
Roosevelt  to  Leo  XIII.,  exactly  like  Mr.  Whitelaw 
Reid  for  the  coronation  of  King  Edward  VII.,  or  like 
Lord  Denbigh,  the  special  envoy  of  England,  who  sim 
ilarly  to  Judge  Taft,  congratulated  the  Pope  on  his 
twenty-five  years  of  Pontificate.  The  American  rep 
resentative  seemed  in  reality  more  of  a  special  envoy 
than  the  other  two,  as  he  even  had  a  present  from  the 
President  to  the  Pope,  consisting  in  a  set  of  the  liter 
ary  works  of  the  former,  and  the  instructions  given  to 
him  by  Secretary  Root  ended  precisely  as  to  any  other 
ambassador  or  envoy  extraordinary.  Besides,  once  in 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE  123 

Rome,  Governor  Taft  thought  it  his  duty  to  be  the 
first  to  pay  visits  to  the  ambassadors  of  France,  Aus 
tria,  Spain  and  Portugal,  accredited  to  the  Holy  See, 
thus  putting  himself  on  an  equality  with  them.  .  .  . 
A  few  days  after  he  arrived  in  the  Eternal  City  there 
was  a  Consistory  at  the  Vatican,  which  is  one  of  the 
most  gorgeous  and  important  functions  of  the  Roman 
Church,  and  Governor  Taft  accepted  an  invitation  to 
assist  at  it  in  the  diplomatic  tribune,  together  with  the 
ambassadors  of  the  great  Catholic  Powers,  he  being 
styled  Envoy  e  Extraordinaire  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  .  .  .  Therefore,  at  the  same  time  that 
in  Washington  they  were  emphatically  denying  the 
mission  having  anything  to  do  with  diplomacy,  its 
head,  either  through  the  influence  of  the  Roman  at 
mosphere,  or  with  the  view  of  reaching  a  success  su 
perior  to  that  which  he  eventually  obtained,  was  act 
ing  as  tho'  he  had  that  diplomatic  character  which  his 
Government  seemed  so  anxious  to  deny  him." 

Cortesi  further  states  that  before  the  arrival  of  the 
American  mission  in  Rome,  he  had  received  a  letter 
from  "a  prominent  writer  in  Washington"  who  was 
close  to  the  White  House  throne,  as  follows : 

"Judge  Taft  does  not  go  as  Ambassador  or  Envoy, 
and  there  has  never  been  any  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  of  sending  one,  altho'  it  has  been 
strongly  urged  by  both  the  Ireland  and  Corrigan  fac 
tions.  There  is  to  be  no  recognition  of  the  temporal 
power,  directly  or  indirectly;  let  that  be  distinctly  un 
derstood." 

After  the  arrival  of  the  "mission,"  and  while  it  was 
exchanging  notes  with  the  Vatican,  this  Rome  corre 
spondent  of  the  press  was  furnished  with  still  further 
assurance  by  the  editor  of  a  prominent  New  York 
paper,  which  stated:  "Governor  Taft  is  not  in  any 
sense  a  diplomatic  representative,  and  the  greatest  care 
has  been  taken  on  this  side  to  make  it  quite  clear  that 


124       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

we  had  no  intention  of  getting  mixed  up  in  the  con 
troversy  over  the  question  of  the  Pope's  temporal  sov 
ereignty." 

All  of  which  "inspired"  assurances  as  to  the  char 
acter  of  Judge  Taft's  mission  to  the  Vatican,  savor 
strongly  of  that  Shakespearian  lady  who  was  thought 
to  "protest  too  much."  Another  interesting  circum 
stance  which  throws  some  light  on  the  Taft  mission 
to  Rome,  was,  that  it  was  undertaken  at  the  instance 
of  Archbishop  Ireland,  Mr.  Roosevelt's  oldtime  friend 
and  political  ally,  tho'  Cortesi  says  this  circumstance 
was  one  of  the  obstacles  to  Judge  Taft's  success.  He 
says,  moreover: 

"The  presence  among  the  advisers  of  the  Governor 
of  Bishop  O'Gorman,  one  of  Archbishop  Ireland's 
best  friends,  had  the  effect  of  raising  the  question  of 
persons,  and  the  suspicion  of  personal  advantage,  on 
the  part  of  the  Archbishop  and  his  adherents,  which  I 
am  sure  are  without  foundation,  but  which  neverthe 
less  aroused  the  animosity  of  the  two  parties  which 
my  friend  in  Washington  called,  'the  Ireland  and  Cor- 
rigan  factions,'  who  are  as  divided  and  opposed  in 
Rome  as  in  America.  ...  Of  course  the  followers 
of  Ireland  were  for  the  success  of  the  mission,  while 
the  others  wanted  to  see  the  friars  triumph."  .  .  . 

On  the  whole,  this  Rome  correspondent  is  disposed 
to  take  an  optimistic  view  of  Governor  Taft's  "first 
mission  to  the  Vatican" ;  thinkc  he  "did  very  well,  con 
sidering";  and  says  despite  the  "Ireland-Corrigan" 
factional  note  injected,  and  despite  the  further  fact 
that  Cardinal  Satolli,  "the  only  member  of  the  Sacred 
College  who  has  a  really  perfect  knowledge  of  Ameri 
can  habits  and  feelings,  and  a  true  love  for  the  United 
States,  was  not  included  in  the  commission  of  Cardi 
nals  which  studied  the  American  propositions,  the  con 
clusions  reached  are  not  so  unsatisfactory  as  might 
have  been  expected,  as  between  the  Vatican  and  the 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  125 

United  States  was  secured  a  broad  basis  of  negotia 
tion,  to  be  carried  on  in  Manila,  by  the  Governor  and 
the  Apostolic  Delegate,  as  to  specified  details." 

"A  broad  basis  of  negotiation"  looking  to  future 
adjustments. 

This  has  that  delightfully  vague,  ambiguous  flavor, 
always  detected  in  diplomatic  utterances;  but  how 
about  that  straight,  plain  business  proposition,  which 
Secretary  Root  says  Governor  Taft  went  to  lay  before 
the  head  of  the  Roman  church  in  his  "purely  business" 
capacity  as  the  owner  and  vender  of  "friar  lands?" 

It  is  all  set  forth  in  detail  in  the  "Annual  Report  of 
the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  year  1902,"  see  pp. 
233-60.  The  first  thought  suggested  to  a  dispassion 
ate  mind  in  its  perusal,  is  that,  here  is  a  vast  amount  of 
diplomatic  pow-wowing  and  kow-towing,  for  a  "purely 
business"  transaction.  And  the  second  query  arising 
is,  what  substantial  advantage  accrued  to  the  United 
States  Government,  or  to  its  Philippine  subjects,  from 
this  remarkable  real-estate  deal?  On  page  250  of  the 
aforesaid  Secretary's  report,  we  find  the  form  of 
agreement  or  concordat  drawn  up  between  Pope  Leo 
and  President  Roosevelt  through  their  intermediaries, 
Cardinal  Rampolla  and  William  Howard  Taft,  Civil 
Governor  of  the  Philippines,  and  submitted  by  them  to 
His  Holiness: 

I.  The  Philippine  government  agrees  to  buy  all  the 
agricultural  lands,  buildings,  irrigation  plants,  and 
other  improvements  thereon,  situate  in  the  Philippine 
Archipelago,  of  the  Dominican,  Augustinia,  and 
Recolet  orders,  and  to  pay  therefor  a  reasonable  and 
fair  price,  to  be  fixed  in  Mexican  dollars  by  a  tribunal 
of  arbitration  to  be  composed  of  five  members,  two  to 
be  appointed  by  His  Holiness,  the  Pope,  two  by  the 
Philippine  government,  and  the  fifth  to  be  appointed 
by  the  governor-general  of  India.  ...  A  majority 
of  the  tribunal  may  make  the  award.  .  .  . 


126  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

The  expenses  of  the  tribunal  of  arbitration,  includ 
ing  reasonable  compensation  to  each  of  the  members, 
shall  be  paid  by  the  Philippine  government.  The 
price  (for  the  lands)  shall  be  paid  in  three  install 
ments,  one-third  cash  within  thirty  days,  one-third  in 
nine  months  after  date  of  the  first  payment,  and  the 
remaining  one-third  in  eighteen  months,  the  deferred 
payments  to  bear  4^  per  cent,  interest  from  the  date 
of  the  first  payment.  The  purchase  money  shall  be 
paid  to  the  representative  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  to  be  designated  by  the  Pope,  and  the  receipt 
of  such  representative  shall  be  full  acquittance  to  the 
extent  of  the  amount  paid  by  the  Philippine  Govern 
ment. 

II.  The  Philippine  Government  agrees  to  release  by 
legislative  act  to   the  representatives  of  the  Roman 
Catholic    Church,    designated    by    His    Holiness,    the 
Pope,    all    lands   or   enclosures    upon    which    Roman 
Catholic  churches  or  conventos  now  stand,  which  were 
never  by  deed  or  formal  grant  conveyed  by  Spain  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  the  same  to  be  held  by 
such  representatives  for  the  use  of  the  Roman  Catho 
lics  of  the  parishes  in  which  such  churches  and  con 
vents  stand;  without  prejudice,  however,  to  the  title, 
if  any,  of  the  municipality  in  which  any  such  church 
or  convent  may  stand,  in  ordinary  courts  of  law."    .  .  . 

III.  The  Philippine  government  and  the  Holy  See 
will  by  compromise,  if  possible,  reach  an  agreement  in 
respect  to  the  charitable,  educational,  and  other  trusts, 
concerning  which  there  is  now  dispute  as  to  the  proper 
trustee,  by  determining  which  of  the  trusts  shall  be 
administered  by  the  civil  government,  and  which,  if 
any,    shall   be   administered   by   the   Roman   Catholic 
Church,  &c.,  &c."     .  .  . 

IV.  The  reasonable  rentals,  if  any,  which  ought  to 
be  paid  for  convents  and  other  church  buildings  which 
have  been  occupied  by  United  States  troops  during  the 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  127 

insurrection,  shall  be  ascertained  for  the  information 
of  both  parties,  by  the  above-mentioned  tribunal  of 
arbitration.  ...  In  each  case  they  shall  take  into 
consideration  the  question  whether  or  not  the  church 
or  convent  was  enemy's  property,  occupied  in  time  of 
war  without  incurring  obligation  to  pay  rent,  &c.,  &c. 
.  .  .  The  Secretary  of  War  undertakes  to  present  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States  the  results  of  the 
inquiry  herein  provided  for,  with  request  for  author 
ity  and  means  to  pay  the  rentals  so  ascertained  to  be 
due."  .  .  . 

Such,  as  set  forth  in  Secretary  Root's  report,  were 
the  obligations  proposed  to  be  incurred  by  the  United 
States  Government,  and  their  representatives  in  the 
Philippines,  in  this  Papal  land  bargain,  and  the  coun 
ter  concessions  demanded  are  thus  outlined  (p.  251)  : 
"The  foregoing  stipulations  are  made  on  the  follow 
ing  conditions : 

(a)  That  titles  of  the  three  religious  orders  to  the 
agricultural  lands  mentioned  in  paragraph  I,  and  of 
any  subsequent  grantees  thereof,   shall  be  duly  con 
veyed  by  deeds  of  usual  and  proper  form  to  the  Phil 
ippine  Government,  and  no  part  of  the  purchase  price 
shall  be  paid  until  this  provision  is  complied  with. 

(b)  That  all  members  of  the  four  religious  orders 
of  Dominicans,  Augustinians,  Recoletos,  and  Francis 
cans  now  in  the  Philippines,  shall  withdraw  one-half 
within  nine  months  after  the  date  of  the  first  payment, 
and  one-half  within  eighteen  months  thereafter,  and 
meantime  they  shall  not  teach,  preach,  or  do  parish 
work  in  the  parishes  of  the  Archipelago;  except,  that 
for  a  period  of  two  years  after  the  first  payment,  a 
sufficient  number  of  such  members  may  remain  to  con 
duct  the  schools,  university,  and  conventual  churches 
now  conducted  by  them,  withdrawing  from  the  Islands 
at  the  close  of  such  period  j  and  that  no  Spanish  meni- 


128  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

bers  of  said  four  orders  shall  hereafter  be  sent  to  the 
Islands.  .  .  . 

His  Holiness  on  his  part  hereby  agrees  to  the  stipu 
lations  and  conditions  hereinbefore  set  forth,  and  con 
tracts  that  the  four  religious  orders  herein  named,  and 
their  members,  shall  comply  with  the  stipulations  and 
conditions  on  their  part  to  be  performed."  .  .  . 

In  his  second  formal  communication  to  the  Pope. 
Governor  Taft  had  stated  that  the  only  purpose  the 
American  Government  had  in  this  proposal,  was  to 
"secure  political  peace  and  absence  of  disturbance  in 
the  Philippines;  that  the  Filipino  people,  as  a  whole, 
are  deeply  incensed  against  these  four  religious  or 
ders  in  the  Islands,  because  responsible,  as  they  sup 
pose,  for  the  alleged  oppressions  of  Spain.  .  .  .  Nor 
was  this  understanding  without  foundation,  for  by  the 
laws  in  force  under  the  Spanish  regime,  the  heads  of 
these  religious  orders  and  the  head  of  the  hierarchy, 
the  Archbishop  of  Manila,  were  of  the  Council  of  the 
Governor-General  of  the  Islands." 

Governor  Taft  further  calls  the  attention  of  the 
Holy  Father  to  the  fact,  that  "these  orders  have  a 
newspaper  which  is  still  published  by  them,  and  which 
is  in  spirit,  anti-American,  anti-Filipino,  and  pro- 
Spanish." 

It  clearly  appears  from  this  showing  of  the  Gov 
ernor-General,  that  these  obnoxious  friars  were  "pub 
lic  enemies,"  and  by  all  known  rules  of  war,  and  all 
laws  of  nations,  they  could  have  been  banished  by  the 
Philippine  government,  and  their  lands  made  confis 
cate  to  the  State.  It  is  a  well-known  fact,  referred  to 
both  by  Root  and  Taft,  that  it  was  part  of  Aguinal- 
do's  plan — had  he  and  his  insurgent  band  succeeded 
in  establishing  their  independence — to  thus  banish  the 
friars  and  appropriate  their  holdings  for  the  use  of  the 
"Philippine  Republic." 

It  could  not  have  been,  therefore,  to  conciliate  their 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND    FABLE  I2Q 

Filipino  subjects,  that  the  American  Government  de 
cided  to  adopt  this  liberal  policy  toward  the  Spanish 
priests  in  the  Philippines  and  their  ecclesiastical  Head 
at  Rome.  Such  liberal  policy  might  be  justified,  how 
ever,  if  it  had  secured  its  ostensible  purpose,  to  wit, 
the  immediate  and  peacable  withdrawal  of  the  Span 
ish  friars  from  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  did  it? 

The  Pope's  reply  (of  July  9,  1902)  to  the  articles 
of  agreement  submitted  by  Governor  Taft  (as  above 
recited)  is  also  given  in  Secretary  Root's  Report 
(pp.  252-4),  and  says  in  effect:  That  the  Holy  See  is 
much  gratified  by  the  attitude  assumed  by  the  Ameri 
can  Government,  and  "on  the  economical  points  the 
views  of  the  Holy  See  accord  almost  entirely  with 
those  of  the  American  and  Philippine  governments"; 
but  further  than  this,  the  Holy  Father  does  not  share 
the  American  and  Filipino  view  of  the  religious  orders 
aforesaid,  nor  can  he  consent  to  their  withdrawal  from 
the  Islands.  On  the  contrary,  he  says  most  emphati 
cally  : 

"The  Holy  See  cannot  accept  the  proposition  of  the 
Philippine  government  to  recall  from  the  Archipelago 
in  a  fixed  time  all  the  religious  of  Spanish  nation 
ality — Dominicans,  Franciscans,  Augustinians,  Reco- 
letos  and  to  prevent  their  return  in  the  future.  .  .  . 
Such  a  measure  would  be,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Filipinos 
and  of  the  entire  Catholic  world,  the  explicit  confir 
mation  of  all  the  accusations  brought  against  the  said 
religious  by  their  enemies,  accusations  of  which  the 
falsity,  or  at  least  the  evident  exaggeration  can  not 
be  disputed.  .  .  .  Finally,  if  the  American  Govern 
ment,  respecting  as  it  does  individual  rights,  does  not 
dare  interdict  the  Philippine  soil  to  the  Spanish  re 
ligious  of  the  four  orders  above  named,  how  could 
the  Pope  do  it}  he  the  common  father  of  all,  the  sup 
port  and  born  defender  of  the  religious?" 

Did  the  Holy  Father  intend  the  last  words  to  carry 


I3O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

any  satirical  import?  Certainly,  they  clearly  indicated 
that  in  the  matter  of  removing  the  friars,  the  Ameri 
can  Government  had  as  much  "rights  in  the  premises" 
as  the  Pope.  Then  why  pursue  the  subject  further 
with  the  Papal  head?  If  this  were  the  purely  com 
mercial  transaction,  which  all  the  Administration  or 
gans  had  taken  so  much  pains  to  proclaim  it,  when 
the  only  important  stipulation  on  the  American  side 
had  been  rejected,  and  the  main  advantage  sought  had 
failed  of  accomplishment,  surely  the  shrewd  Ameri 
can  business  sense  would  prompt  the  immediate  break 
ing  off  of  Papal  negotiations.  But  was  such  the  case? 
Not  a  bit  of  it.  The  complaisant  American  Govern 
ment,  manipulated  for  the  nonce  by  Messrs.  Roose 
velt  and  Taft,  returned  a  polite  message  to  His  Holi 
ness,  that,  while  they  are  very  sorry  he  cannot  see  his 
way  clear  to  accede  to  their  proposal  of  retiring  the 
friars,  they  still  hope  His  Holiness  will  accept  the 
money  for  the  lands,  and  all  their  other  generous  pro 
posals  ;  while  they  upon  their  part,  are  perfectly  willing 
to  accept  the  diplomatic  assurances  of  His  Holiness 
that  he  will  do  the  best  he  can  for  them;  and  that  he 
will  send  his  Apostolic  Delegate  to  Manila,  who  with 
the  assistance  of  the  amiable  Governor-General,  Wm. 
Howard  Taft,  will  no  doubt  be  able  to  "find  a  way" 
for  an  amicable  adjustment  of  all  present  and  future 
difficulties!  And  so  this  unique  negotiation  between 
the  Vatican  and  the  United  States  ended  by  the  latter 
paying  to  the  former,  seven  and  a  quarter  million  dol 
lars,  for  lands  to  which  our  Government  already  had 
a  clear  title,  and  to  secure  an  advantage  which  it  was 
understood  in  advance,  would  not  be  secured.  If  this 
was  a  strictly  "business"  transaction,  as  given  out,  it 
is  not  immediately  apparent  to  an  innocent  bystander 
"whereabouts"  the  United  States  "got  in"  on  the  deal. 
"Uncle  Sam's"  usual  trading  astuteness  seems  to  have 
been  off  duty.  This  surprising  complaisance  of  the 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  13! 

United  States  authorities  toward  the  Papal  See  be 
comes  the  more  remarkable  when  contrasted  with  the 
action  of  Catholic  Governments  in  the  case  of  these 
same  troublous  religious  orders,  who,  realizing  the 
tremendous  influence  of  these  orders  with  the  heads 
of  the  church,  "have  (according  to  Cortesi),  without 
even  trying  to  come  to  any  agreement  with  the  Hcly 
See,  adopted  severe  measures  against  the  friars." 

The  defenders  and  apologists  of  the  "friar-lands" 
purchase  explain  that,  for  the  United  States  to  have 
banished  these  hostile  and  turbulent  friars,  upon  its 
own  authority,  and  devoted  their  so-called  possessions 
to  the  betterment  of  the  people  whom  they  had  so  long 
oppressed,  "would  have  been  very  un-American!'  Oh ! 
Having  set  aside  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  our  Ameri 
can  Declaration,  in  the  purchase  of  the  Philippines  and 
the  imposing  on  the  inhabitants  a  rule  which  they 
didn't  want,  it  was  probably  imperative  to  give  to  the 
world  some  conspicuous,  signal  proof  that  the  "pres 
ent  Administration"  was  yet  running  on  American 
lines, — in  spots  anyway.  And  whenever  there  is  an 
emergency  call  for  a  shining  example  of  virtue,  per 
sonal,  civic,  or  national,  T.  Roosevelt  is  your  man !  It 
is  extremely  lucky  (for  the  friars)  that  this  call  came 
while  he  was  running  the  Government, — some  other 
President  might  have  missed  this  glorious  opportunity 
for  disinterested  benevolence! 

The  first  intimation  to  the  general  public  that  the 
"friar-lands"  transaction  was  neither  so  benevolent 
nor  so  disinterested  as  appeared  at  the  first  blush,  was 
given  by  the  publication  of  the  "Storer-Roosevelt" 
correspondence  four  years  later  (December,  1906), 
wherein  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  shown  to  have  aided  and 
abetted  his  "dear  friends,"  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Bellamy 
Storer,  in  their  very  natural  efforts  to  advance  Arch 
bishop  Ireland  to  a  Cardinalate,  the  Storers  being 
prominent  and  influential  Catholics,  and  up  to  the  time 


132  ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

of  the  sensational  divulgence  of  the  correspondence, 
very  intimate  friends  of  Mr.  Roosevelt.  The  story  of 
how  "Dear  Bellamy"  and  "Dear  Maria"  joined  the 
"Ananias  Club"  after  that  unhappy  denouement,  be 
longs  to  another  chapter,  but  when  Governor  of  New 
York,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Storer  bespeak 
ing  his  aid  in  the  matter,  Roosevelt  wrote:  "I  need 
not  say  what  a  pleasure  it  would  be  for  me  to  do  any 
thing  I  can  for  Archbishop  Ireland.  You  know  how 
high  a  regard  I  have  always  felt  for  him.  He  repre 
sents  the  type  of  Catholicism  which  in  my  opinion 
must  prevail  in  the  United  States  if  the  Catholic 
Church  is  to  attain  its  full  measure  of  power  and  use 
fulness  with  our  people  and  under  our  form  of  gov 
ernment." 

He  also  wrote  to  Mrs.  Storer  at  this  time  (while 
Governor  of  New  York)  that  he  had  written  to  Presi 
dent  McKinley  in  Ireland's  behalf,  but  warns  her  that 
"the  President  cannot  (in  his  official  capacity)  try  to 
get  a  certain  archbishop  made  a  cardinal,  because  it 
would  be  a  g'ood  thing  from  the  standpoint  of  the  body 
politic  here,  than  he  can  try  to  get  a  certain  Methodist 
minister  made  bishop  for  similar  reasons."  .  .  .  Then 
follows  his  contemptuous  reference  to  the  Protestant 
clergymen  of  "that  fool  type,  who  want  to  abolish  the 
army  canteen,"  and  says  that,  officially,  he  could  not 
even  oppose  one  of  these  who  was  aspiring  to  be 
bishop. 

Now  no  one  can  justly  find  fault  with  Mr.  Roose 
velt  for  praising  Archbishop  Ireland,  nor  for  valuing 
his  friendship  as  a  man ;  but  if  his  non-sectarian  role 
were  genuine,  and  he  were  honest  in  proclaiming,  as 
he  has  so  often  done,  that  he  wanted  to  give  all  sects 
a  "square  deal,"  why  must  he  couple  eulogiums  of  the 
Catholic  prelate  with  such  unflattering  allusions  to 
the  Protestant  clergy, — even  of  "that  fool  type"  who 
would  abolish  the  army  canteen?  To  "Dear  Bellamy," 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  133 

while  he  was  ambassador  at  Madrid,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
as  Governor  wrote:  "On  every  account,  I  should  feel 
that  the  election  of  Archbishop  Ireland  to  the  cardinal- 
ate  would  be  a  most  fortunate  thing  for  us  in  the 
United  States,  Catholic  and  non-Catholic  alike.  .  .  . 
While  I  would  not  like  to  have  this  letter  published, 
you  are  most  welcome  to  show  it  to  anyone  you  see 
fit."  .  .  . 

But  Mr.  Storer  states,  that  after  Roosevelt  became 
Vice-president,  he  manifested  great  apprehension  lest 
the  Protestant  public  should  learn  of  his  Catholic  sym 
pathies  and  activities,  and  of  his  relations  with  Arch 
bishop  Ireland,  and  wrote  to  ask  Mrs.  Storer  if  she 
had  ever  allowed  his  letters  on  the  subject  to  get  out 
of  her  possession?  He  had  heard  in  some  way  that 
Cardinal  Rampolla  at  Rome  had  one  of  them. 

This,  it  would  seem,  taken  in  connection  with  one 
very  frank  passage  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Storer,  should 
help  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  to  place  the  proper 
valuation  on  Mr.  Roosevelt's  "Catholic  sympathies  and 
activities."  The  passage  referred  to  is  the  playful  re 
mark  to  "Dear  Maria,"  that  "this  Dutch-Reformed 
individual  appears  to  be  collecting  a  great  deal  of 
Catholic  interest  and  information ;  it  is  not  exactly 
support,  but  rather  a  desire  to  be  supported." 

This  passage  is  unique,  in  that  it  is  the  solitary  ex 
pression  in  all  the  voluminous  Roosevelt  output,  which 
evinces  a  momentary  flash  of  honest  introspection  and 
frank  humor  at  his  own  expense.  In  the  midst  of  the 
great  mass  of  solemn  pomposity,  and  absorbed  self- 
appreciation,  this  little  side  remark,  so  appealingly 
human,  to  his  "warmest  of  friends,  and  staunchest  of 
supporters" — shines  like  a  good  deed  in  an  evil  world ! 

As  all  who  read  the  Roosevelt-Storer  correspond 
ence  will  remember,  Mr.  Storer  states,  that  in  the 
siimrner  of  1903,  after  his  appointment  as  ambassador 
to  Vienna,  while  on  a  visit  to  President  Roosevelt  a{ 


134       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

Oyster  Bay,  the  latter  had  delivered  to  him  an  oral 
message  to  the  Pope,  Pius  X.  to  the  effect  that  Arch 
bishop  Ireland  was  his — Roosevelt's  friend;  and  that 
the  President  would  be  much  gratified  if  Ireland  could 
be  promoted  to  be  a  cardinal, — or  words  to  that  effect. 
Monsignor  O'Connell  was  also  commissioned  by  Mr. 
Roosevelt  to  say  the  same  thing  to  Pius  X.,  which  he 
did  on  Sept.  24,  1903 ;  and  the  Pope  had  transmitted  a 
message,  saying  the  President's  wishes  would  prob 
ably  be  fulfilled. 

But  it  seems,  just  about  the  time  the  Pope  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  give  Archbishop  Ireland  a  red  hat, 
somebody  else  turned  up  in  Rome  with  another  "oral 
message"  from  President  Roosevelt,  that  he  would  be 
pleased  to  see  Archbishop  Farley  made  a  cardinal !  It 
was  this  report  from  Rome  which  called  forth  Mrs. 
Storer's  protesting  letters  to  President  Roosevelt  and 
Judge  Taft,  demanding  an  explanation  of  this  apparent 
double  dealing.  "Dear  Maria"  might  have  been 
spared  a  public  reprimand  from  her  presidential 
friend,  and  much  consequent  mortification,  if  she  had 
only  appreciated  the  fact  that  the  "Dutch-Reformed 
individual"  who  wished  to  receive,  rather  than  to  give 
Catholic  support,  could  not  concentrate  his  sympathies 
and  activities  on  any  one  aspirant  for  the  cardinalate, 
however  much  he  might  esteem  him  personally.  While 
Archbishop  Ireland  had  a  large  following  of  Catholic 
voters  in  the  West,  Archbishop  Farley  had  some  use 
ful  Eastern  connections. 

There  is  a  story  current  in  Washington,  for  the 
truth  of  which  the  writer  does  not  vouch :  A  Catholic 
priest  and  a  layman,  living  in  a  Balitmore  suburb,  had 
the  same  name;  in  consequence,  letters  for  the  one 
were  sometimes  opened  by  the  other.  In  the  summer 
of  1904  the  layman  was  astonished  to  receive  a  letter 
which  ran:  "Instruct  your  parishioners  to  vote  for 
Roosevelt  and  Fairbanks  in  this  election," 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE  135 

Signed  by  the  Papal  Delegate  at  Washington. 

The  story  may  or  may  not  be  true.  It  is  repro 
duced  only  because  it  tallies  so  exactly  with  the  public 
statement  of  the  Hon.  Paul  Morton,  that  "the  Catho 
lic  press  of  the  United  States,  without  exception,  sup 
ported  President  Roosevelt  in  the  last  election." 

Tho'  it  is  a  well-known  fact  (on  which  Mr.  Roose 
velt  builded  so  confidently),  that  members  of  the  Ro 
man  Catholic  faith  are  more  deferential  to  the  wishes 
of  their  church  superiors,  than  are  the  laymen  of  other 
sects,  it  would  seem  that  self-respecting  lay-Catholics, 
those  at  least  who  breathe  the  liberty-loving  air  of 
America,  would  resent  being  made  pawns  on  the  politi 
cal  chess-board,  to  serve  the  personal  ambitions  of 
either  a  Catholic  prelate,  or  a  Dutch  Reformed  Presi 
dent. 


136  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND   FABLE 


CHAPTER   XL 

ROOSEVELT  AND  THE   NEGRO. 

The  very  general  dislike  and  distrust  felt  for  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  during  his  first  term  by  Southerners 
was  attributed  by  Northerners,  almost  without  excep 
tion,  to  the  Booker  Washington  luncheon  at  the  White 
House. 

In  like  manner,  the  more  recent  bouquets  flung  at 
his  feet  by  admiring  hands  in  the  South,  have  all  been 
charged  up  to  the  Brownsville  edict,  and  the  conse 
quent  humiliation  of  the  25th  Infantry. 

As  a  Southerner,  with  some  jealous  regard  for  the 
honor  and  reputation  of  her  section,  the  writer  wishes 
we  might  sometime  reach  a  point  where  we  could  be 
accredited  with  a  perception  of  some  other  things  in 
Heaven  or  earth  besides  the  Race  Problem ;  and  occa 
sionally  be  swayed  by  some  other  influence  than  our 
traditional  and  reputedly  dominant  prejudice  against 
the  negroes.  Until  this  time  arrives,  it  would  be  at 
least  gratifying  to  see  Southerners  manifesting  this 
prejudice  in  an  intelligent  and  discriminating  fashion, 
and  not  behold  them  striking  blindly  at  everything  in 
the  North  or  upon  the  part  of  Northerners,  which  looks 
like  a  subversion  of  the  Southern  code. 

Barring  the  extremely  questionable  taste,  and  the 
manifest  impropriety,  of  any  hospitable  demonstration 
in  the  Nation  s  house  of  which  the  Nation  had  not  sig 
nified  its  approval,  Roosevelt's  lunching  with  Booker 
Washington  was  one  of  the  most  natural  and  un- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  137 

studied  things  he  has  ever  done,  and  to  that  extent,  one 
of  the  least  reprehensible. 

Born  and  reared  in  the  North,  where  the  few  resi 
dent  negroes  enjoy  all  the  public  utlities  with  the 
whites,  without  discrimination ;  and  educated  at  Har 
vard,  where  the  negro  students  share  with  the  white 
boys  the  privileges  of  the  mess-hall,  it  probably  never 
entered  President  Roosevelt's  head,  that  there  was  any 
reason  why  he  and  the  Tuskegee  professor  should  not 
partake  of  the  same  repast  under  the  National  roof. 

Assuredly,  if  under  his  own  roof,  and  in  his  private 
capacity  as  Theodore  Roosevelt,  Citizen,  he  had  chosen 
to  wine  and  dine  negroes  every  day  in  the  week,  he 
was  clearly  within  the  domain  of  his  own  personal 
rights ;  and  the  only  sensible  comment  for  any  disap 
proving  observer  was,  de  gustibus.  Of  this  Booker 
Washington  incident,  Historian  Leupp,  ever  close  to 
the  Roosevelt  throne,  says :  "Mr.  Washington  is  one  of 
the  men  whom  President  Roosevelt  most  admires,  and 
whom  he  is  proudest  to  number  among  his  friends. 
They  meet  on  terms  of  frank  equality,  except  inas 
much  as  the  presidential  office  itself  confers  a  special 
dignity  upon  its  occupant  which  all  patriotic  Ameri 
cans  recognize."  .  .  . 

This  ought  to  settle  it,  so  far  as  Mr.  Roosevelt  is 
concerned.  The  accident  of  his  presidential  rank 
might  square-off  the  accident  of  Booker  T.'s  black 
skin,  and  make  "honors  easy"  between  them  on  every 
account. 

And  really,  considerations  of  race,  policy  and  official 
rank  aside,  if  one  seeks  only  a  fair  estimate  of  the 
mentality  and  character  of  the  two  men  as  revealed 
in  their  writings  and  speeches,  one  must  admit  that 
Washington's  evince  the  more  orderly  mental  pro 
cesses,  and  the  greater  self-restraint.  Flashes  of 
originality,  scintillations  of  genius,  and  far  reaches  of 
thought,  are  not  observable  in  either.  They  both  pos- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

sess  in  a  remarkable  degree  the  faculty  of  turning 
things  to  their  own  advantage,  and  sticking  comfort 
able  feathers — both  black  and  white — into  their  indi 
vidual  nests.  This  thrifty  trait  alone  should  make 
them  very  congenial  companions.  Truly  there  seems 
no  good  reason  to  dissent  from  Friend  Leupp's  state 
ment,  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  meets  Booker  Washington 
upon  a  plane  of  "frank  equality" — except  where  he 
drops  below.  The  writer  thoroughly  agrees  with  Mr. 
Leupp's  strictures  upon  the  "torrential  Southern  jour 
nalism"  which  made  so  much  fuss  over  the  luncheon. 
It  was  a  great  mistake.  The  South  should  have  passed 
it  over  with  the  philosophic  remark:  "If  the  Negro 
and  the  white  race  of  the  North  can  stand  it,  we  can." 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  immediate  effect  of  the  inci 
dent  fell  much  more  uncomfortably  upon  the  North 
than  upon  the  South.  The  owners  of  Northern  hotels, 
cafes,  barrooms,  and  barber  shops  were  suddenly  beset 
with  numerous  damage-suits  by  pestiferous  black  liti 
gants,  who  were  refused  accommodation,  and  who, 
emboldened  by  the  White  House  luncheon,  were  not  to 
be  put  off  with  the  usual  devices.  If  Mr.  Roosevelt 
were  carrying  out  "the  Northern  idea"  in  this  affair, 
it  proved  a  Northern  chick  which  came  quickly  home 
to  roost  in  most  disagreeable  fashion. 

In  the  South,  where  no  pretence  is  maintained  about 
"equality"  in  matters  social,  no  such  laws  (forbidding 
discrimination  in  public  accommodations)  exist,  and 
the  owners  of  public  resorts  are  subjected  to  no  such 
annoyance  as  this  occurring  in  the  North;  and  which, 
as  a  further  unhappy  consequence,  engenders  an  in 
tense  racial  animosity  toward  the  Negro,  in  the  North, 
which  bodes  ill  for  the  future  of  his  race  in  this  coun 
try. 

Perhaps  it  was  a  perception  of  these  truths,  which 
led  the  independent  press  of  the  North  to  condemn  the 
Roosevelt- Washington  luncheon  in  no  uncertain  terms. 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

Certainly  it  was  this  criticism,  if  any,  and  not  the  "tor 
rential  Southern  journals,"  which  disturbed  the  Roose- 
veltian  complacency  in  the  matter,  and  led  him  to  "re 
gret"  the  incident,  as  was  so  widely  rumored, — though 
Leupp  thinks,  without  sufficient  "authority." 

In  executing  his  righteous  decree  to  abolish  the  In- 
dianola  (Mississippi)  post-office,  and  force  the  in 
habitants  of  the  Southern  town  to  send  thirty  miles  for 
their  mail,  President  Roosevelt  is  represented  by  his 
glorifying  biographer  as  exercising  much  self-restraint 
and  virtuous  forbearance  toward  a  community  which 
was  so  "barbarous"  as  not  to  want  a  negress  as  a 
postmistress.  The  President's  clemency  in  the  matter 
shines  all  the  more  by  contrast  with  Postmaster-Gen 
eral  Payne's  severe  temper,  who  was  so  "indignant  at 
the  poor  woman's  treatment"  that  he  wanted  to  "send 
her  back  to  Indianola  under  military  escort,  place  a 
cordon  of  troops  around  the  post-office  to  protect  its 
occupant  and  its  business  from  further  molestation 
until  the  excitement  died  down !" 

Postmaster-General  Payne's  notion  about  the  proper 
means  to  allay  popular  excitement  in  a  Southern  com 
munity,  is  as  remarkable  as  his  holy  zeal  for  the  cause 
of  the  persecuted  colored  postmistress;  and  the  latter 
is  particularly  impressive  when  we  remember  that  this 
is  the  noble  public  servant  who  deprived  Miss  Todd 
(a  white  postmistress)  of  her  office  in  Delaware,  be 
cause  her  brothers  had  the  temerity  to  oppose  the 
saintly  and  patriotic  Addicks!  And  if  memory  serves 
us  aright,  this  is  the  same  Postmaster-General  who  in 
1904  dismissed  from  the  Postal  Service  Col.  John  Bell 
Brownlow  of  Tennessee,  a  man  who  had  served  in  the 
Civil  War  on  the  Union  side,  whose  father,  the  famous 
"Parson"  Brownlow,  had  been  the  staunchest  sup 
porter  of  the  Union  cause  in  Eastern  Tennessee,  had 
served  as  Tennessee's  "war  governor,"  and  later  as 
United  States  Senator,  yet  this  man,  Col.  John  Brown- 


I4O  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

low,  his  son,  who  had  been  an  honest  and  efficient  pub 
lic  servant  for  24  years,  against  whose  record  there 
was  not  a  breath,  was  ruthlessly  and  summarily 
thrown  out  of  the  service  without  cause  and  without  a 
hearing,  to  gratify  the  peevish  whim  of  Payne.  But 
the  magnanimous  President,  who  had  upheld  his  Post 
master-General  in  both  these  righteous  acts,  which  sig 
nalized  so  strikingly  the  effectiveness  of  Civil-Ser 
vice  rules  under  the  Roosevelt  regime,  was  not  to  be 
influenced  by  his  extreme  counsel  in  the  case  of  the 
recalcitrant  Mississippiaris — not  he !  In  a  lofty  spirit 
of  pitying  scorn  for  the  narrow  race  prejudice  of  these 
benighted  Southerners,  tho'  "not  a  whit  less  indig 
nant  than  Payne,"  we  are  informed,  he  preferred  to  "fit 
the  punishment  to  the  crime;  (to  borrow  the  chaste 
language  of  Leupp)  a  community  which  had  relapsed 
into  barbarism  had  no  longer  any  claim  upon  the  lux 
uries  that  accompany  modern  civilization.  No  armed 
force  was  sent  to  compel  it  to  be  decent  against  its  will ; 
a  privilege  it  had  enjoyed  while  decent,  simply  dropped 
out  Avhen  it  surrendered  its  self-respect!" 

If  the  citizens  of  Indianola,  or  any  portion  of  them, 
had — as  was  charged — forced  this  colored  postmistress 
either  by  violence  or  threats  of  violence,  to  resign  her 
office  and  leave  the  town,  there  was  a  clear  provision 
of  the  Constitution — belonging  to  the  legislation  of  the 
Reconstruction  era,  under  which  the  offenders  could 
have  been  punished.  But  without  making  any  attempt 
to  call  them  to  account  according  to  forms  of  law,  our 
Strenuous  and  virtuous  President  preferred  to  go  the 
Indianolans  one  better  in  the  matter  of  violating  the 
Constitution. 

And  so  he  closed  up  their  post-office,  which  he  had 
no  more  legal  right  to  do,  than  he  had  to  close  their 
churches,  or  their  court-house. 

Commentator  Leupp  further  elucidates  the  incon 
sistency  and  absurdity  of  the  Southern  position  toward 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  14! 

the  Negro,  by  citing  the  fact  that  these  Indianola  citi- 
ezns,  after  all  the  fuss  and  trouble  they  had  made  over 
receiving  their  mail  from  the  hand  of  a  negress,  and 
after  they  paid  the  penalty  of  their  folly,  hired  a  negro 
man  to  go  to  the  nearest  post-office — 30  miles  distant — 
and  bring  the  mail  addressed  to  Indianola,  thus  receiv 
ing  it  at  last  from  a  pair  of  black  hands ! 

Of  course  any  one  with  the  born  intelligence  of  the 
humble  candle-fly  must  readily  perceive  the  force  of 
this  Leuppine  reasoning. 

Southerners  so  stupid  as  not  to  see  that  taking  their 
mail  from  "a  pair  of  black  hands"  serving  in  the  lowly 
capacity  of  their  own  hired  servant,  had  precisely  the 
same  bearing  on  the  "social-equality"  dogma,  as  taking 
it  from  black  hands  which  were  handing  it  out  to  them 
with  all  the  official  airs  borrowed  from  Federal  author 
ity — are  not  worth  the  consideration  of  philosophers 
of  the  Leuppine  and  Rooseveltian  genus ! 

Having  trampled  upon  the  Constitution  in  the  In 
dianola  affair,  with  no  unpleasant  consequences  to 
anybody  except  the  aforesaid  stupid  Southerners  (who 
most  likely  would  not  have  cast  any  ballots  for  Roose 
velt,  any  way),  the  Strenuous  one  was  in  the  mood  for 
further  trampling,  in  the  Crum  appointment  to  the 
Port  of  Charleston,  S.  C,  and  if  report  be  true,  he 
trampled  some  other  laws,  in  this  case,  which  a  great 
many  people  regard  as  binding  as  the  Constitution; 
but,  of  course,  these  are  persons  of  ordinary  under 
standing  and  standards  of  honor,  which  can  not  be 
applied  to  the  actions  of  the  great  and  only  T.  R. 

It  was  asserted  at  the  time  of  the  Crum  appoint 
ment,  upon  the  authority  of  certain  reputable  citizens 
of  Charleston,  that  President  Roosevelt  while  on  his 
visit  to  the  Charleston  Exposition  in  the  Spring  of 
1902.  had  given  his  word  to  a  prominent  business  man 
of  that  city,  that  he  would  not  appoint  a  negro  as  Col 
lector  of  Customs  at  Charleston. 


142  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

Of  course  this  prominent  and  reputable  Charles- 
toman  has  discovered  and  acknowledged  his  mistake  by 
this  time;  and  if  not,  you  can  find  his  name  on  the 
membership  roll  of  the  "Ananias  Club." 

But  by  far  the  most  reckless,  vicious  and  disastrous 
Rooseveltian  trampling  of  law  and  precedent  in  the 
case  of  the  negroes,  in  the  view  of  Northern  col 
ored  voters, — aye,  there's  the  rub, — was  in  his  whole 
sale  dismissal  of  the  25th  Infantry  who  were  charged 
with  shooting  up  a  Texas  town.  This  alas!  raised  a 
tumult  that  was  not  confined  to  the  South  country,  but 
rolled  uproariously  through  the  Northern  belt  from 
Cape  Cod  to  the  sweep  of  the  Oregon,  and  wherever 
colored  votes  are  specially  prized  and  counted.  It  was 
no  doubt  a  wholesome  premonition  of  this  unpleasant 
uproar,  which  led  our  sapient  President  to  defer  the 
Brownsville  order,  prepared  in  October,  until  after  the 
November  elections  of  1906.  There  is  as  little  reason 
to  doubt  that  he  wishes  now  he  had  withheld  it  until 
after  the  November  elections  of  1908! 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  this  active  and  re 
sourceful  Executive  might  have  had  the  Brownsville 
incident  relegated  to  the  rear,  and  the  memory  of  it 
erased  from  the  Negro  mind,  before  the  date  fixed  for 
counting  the  ballots,  had  it  not  been  for  the  incon 
venient  and  mischievous  meddling  of  Senator  Foraker, 
who  not  only  focused  the  attention  of  the  whole  coun 
try  upon  the  affair,  with  his  Senate  "investigation," 
but  also — by  and  far,  and  much  more — he  had  in 
tensified  the  burning  sense  of  wrong  in  the  mind  of 
the  whole  Negro  race,  culminating  in  a  threatened  re 
volt  from  the  "Heir  Apparent"  at  the  polls !  No  won 
der  Roosevelt  loves  Foraker ! 

This  Foraker  persistence  in  keeping  alive  the 
Brownsville  incident,  made  it  incumbent  upon  our 
prudent  and  adaptable  President  to  send  a  Special 
Message  to  the  last  Congress  asking  for  a  Congres- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  143 

sional  decree  under  which  these  discharged  and  dis 
graced  Negro  soldiers  might  re-enlist — such  of  them  at 
least,  as  could  prove  their  innocence  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  President, — he  the  omniscient  judge  who,  little 
more  than  a  year  before — had  been  so  thoroughly  sat 
isfied  of  the  guilt  of  all! 

And  this  provoked  Senator  Tillman's  cynical  resolu 
tion,  asking  that  every  senator  be  provided  with  exact 
copies  of  the  President's  two  orders, — "the  one  dis 
charging  the  Negro  soldiers,  and  the  one  taking  it 
back!" 

Between  the  polite  attentions  of  Foraker  and  of 
Tillman,  the  Rooseveltian  pathway  through  the  59th 
and  6oth  Congresses  has  not  been  as  flowery  as  it 
might  have  been.  One  readily  understands  the  warm 
regard  Mr.  Roosevelt  entertains  for  them  both. 

Mortifying  to  relate,  the  Brownsville  decree  was 
greeted  with  a  unanimous  burst  of  applause  from  the 
South  country.  Without  waiting  for  particulars,  with 
out  caring  about  particulars,  evidently,  all  the  South 
ern  hats  went  up  for  Roosevelt!  Southern  hats  being 
proverbially  of  generous  width  of  brim,  when  they  are 
all  in  the  air  at  once,  they  naturally  obscure  the  South 
ern  vision  to  other  happenings  at  the  time. 

So  absorbed  were  the  Southerners  with  their  Roose 
velt  huzzas,  that  another  order  of  his  to  the  War  De 
partment,  coincident  with  the  Brownsville  order,  en 
tirely  escaped  their  notice;  it  is  here  given  for  their 
benefit,  and  that  they  may  see  how  hasty  and  ill-con 
sidered  is  much  of  the  Southern  cheering  for  Roose 
velt;  Col.  Wm.  L.  Pitcher,  of  the  2/th  Infantry,  and 
commander  at  Fort  Sheridan  near  Chicago,  was  re 
ported  to  have  said  in  commenting  on  the  Brownsville 
disturbance:  "For  the  life  of  me,  I  can  not  see  why 
the  United  States  should  try  to  make  soldiers  out  of 
the  negroes.  Certainly  there  are  enough  fine  white 


144  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

young  men  in  this  big  country  to  make  soldiers  of, 
without  recruiting  from  such  a  source." 

This  alleged  statement  by  Col.  Pitcher  which  ap 
peared  in  the  public  press,  having  been  brought  to 
President  Roosevelt's  attention,  the  following  com 
munication  in  regard  to  it  was  sent  to  the  War  De 
partment  by  Secretary  Loeb : 

"The  President  directs  that  an  immediate  report  be 
called  for  from  Col.  Pitcher,  to  know  whether  or  not 
he  is  correctly  quoted  in  the  enclosed  clipping;  and  if 
he  is  correctly  quoted,  the  President  directs  that  pro 
ceedings  be  taken  against  him  for  such  punishment 
as  can  be  inflicted.  The  President  thinks  that  such 
conduct  is  but  little  better  than  that  of  the  offending 
negro  troops  themselves." 

Now  it  will  hardly  be  disputed  that  the  sentiment  ex 
pressed  in  Col.  Pitcher's  statement  receives  hearty  en 
dorsement  throughout  the  South ;  riot,  let  it  be  said, 
because  the  South  does  not  recognize  that  the  negroes 
properly  trained  and  officered,  make  very  good  sol 
diers,  and  have  shown  themselves  capable  of  facing 
dangers  and  winning  battles;  but  the  South's  opposi 
tion  to  negro  soldiers  is  based  upon  the  same  ground 
as  her  opposition  to  them  as  electors,  as  civil  officers, 
or  any  other  capacity  which  brings  them  into  social 
relations  with  the  whites,  resulting  in  racial  friction 
and  strife.  Whether  this  Southern  view  be  right  or 
wrong,  tenable,  or  untenable,  it  is  unequivocally  and 
solidly  the  Southern  position,  on  which  there  has  never 
been  any  wavering.  Whether,  if  the  Negro  question 
could  be  divested  of  its  sectional  and  political  compli 
cations,  this  Southern  view  would  not  quickly  become 
the  Anglo-Saxon  view  of  the  entire  country,  is  an  in 
teresting  speculation,  which  may  not  be  settled  at  this 
time,  tho'  there  are  straw  indications  that  such  would 
be  the  case.  But  that  is  not  the  point  in  the  Browns 
ville  case. 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT    AND    FABLE  145 

The  present  policy  of  this  Government  is  to  make 
soldiers  of  'the  negroes,  and  so  long  as  this  obtains,  it 
is  certainly  only  common  justice  to  give  them  "a  square 
deal"  before  the  law.  Whether  this  was  done  in  the 
Brownsville  imbroglio,  is  not  the  province  of  this  little 
book  to  decide.  It  only  seeks  to  point  out  President 
Roosevelt's  vacillating  course  in  the  matter,  and  the 
small  justification  for  Southern  plaudits.  In  the  win 
ter  following  the  Brownsville  edict,  it  was  announced 
in  the  papers  that  the  President  had  selected  Ralph 
Tyler,  a  negro  journalist  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  to  be 
Inspector  of  Customs  at  Cincinnati. 

Then  all  the  Southern  hats  went  into  the  air  again; 
for  now  was  it  imminent  that  Foraker  was  to  "get  it 
in  the  neck."  As  usual,  the  Southern  shouters  did  not 
watch  for  the  sequel  to  this  announcement.  It  will 
probably  be  news  to  many  of  them,  to  this  good  day, 
that  when  the  Ohio  protests  began  to  pour  into  the 
White  House,  and  it  was  gently  whispered  into  the 
Executive  ear  that  a  negro  Inspector  of  Customs  at 
Cincinnati,  would  split  "the  party'  in  twain  in  Ohio,  he 
quietly  and  modestly  backed  down  on  his  Ohio  ap 
pointment — he  who  had  over-ridden  the  Constitution, 
senatorial  courtesy  and  his  pledged  word  to  his  South 
ern  entertainers — in  order  to  land  Crum  in  the  Charles 
ton  Custom  House — and  instead,  made  Ralph  Tyler 
the  Auditor  of  the  Navy  Department  in  Washington, 
where  his  coming  created  immediate  turmoil,  resulting 
in  the  resignation  of  at  least  six  white  clerks.  It  is 
asserted  upon  good  Washington  authority,  that  under 
Tyler's  regime,  this  Department  has  become  the  head 
quarters  for  negro  politicians. 

It  may  be  that  the  country  is  a  long  distance  yet 
from  the  proper  solution  of  its  Negro  problem.  Cer 
tainly,  it  may  be  observed,  that  neither  the  North  nor 
the  South  has  yet  brought  to  its  consideration,  that 
broad,  national,  patriotic  spirit,  in  which  alone  it  can 


146  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

ever  be  settled  wisely  and  amicably.  Meantime,  it  may 
be  truthfully  said,  that  Theodore  Roosevelt  has  done 
more  uselessly  to  agitate  the  question  and  keep  it  at 
the  acute  stage,  without  offering  a  single  helpful  idea; 
has  more  sharply  accentuated  its  sectional  feature — by 
far  its  worst  feature  so  far  as  the  South  is  concerned 
• — than  any  other  man  who  has  ever  sat  in  the  seat  of 
the  Presidents.  As  such,  he  has  no  clear  title  to  any 
Southern  hand-clapping.  Neither  has  his  course 
earned  the  confidence  and  good-will  of  either  whites  or 
negroes. 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  147 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    "ANANIAS    CLUB;"     "UNDESIRABLE    CITIZENS;" 
"RICH  MAN'S  CONSPIRACY." 

As  clearly  appears  to  any  dispassionate  observer, 
the  Rooseveltian  pathway  has  been  much  beset  with 
liars  of  various  kinds  and  degrees.  So  keen  is  his 
faculty  for  ferreting  these  out,  and  so  unerring  his 
instinct  for  spotting  them,  that  he  has  not  infrequently 
discovered  them  in  places  least  suspected  by  their 
neighbors  and  acquaintances,  until  Mr.  Roosevelt 
turned  on  the  search-light  and  revealed  them  in  their 
true — no,  no,  in  their  mendacious  character.  He  has 
put  the  Ananias  badge  upon  some  in  high  official  posi 
tion,  and  on  others  alas,  who  at  one  time  held  an  hon 
ored  place  in  the  esteem  and  affections  even  of  their 
deluded  fellow  countrymen.  But  as  truth  is  said  to 
be  no  respecter  of  persons,  much  less  is  mendacity,  as 
proven  by  Mr.  Roosevelt. 

He  has  encountered  these  disciples  of  Ananias 
among  the  quick  and  the  dead,  on  the  cold,  storied 
page  of  history,  and  in  the  warm,  living  present. 
Thomas  Jefferson,  the  founder  of  Democracy,  and 
distinguished  in  some  other  ways,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
found,  upon  inspection,  to  be  "constitutionally  inca 
pable  of  putting  a  proper  value  on  truthfulness." 

Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  a  New  England 
publicist  of  some  note,  once  pointed  out  that,  of  the 
two  men,  Jefferson  and  Hamilton,  who  are  popularly 
supposed  to  have  furnished  opposing  political  ideals 
for  this  country,  Jefferson  has  by  far  the  larger  fol- 


148  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

lowing.  In  fact,  Mr.  Higginson  affirms,  "the  average 
American,  no  matter  what  party  affiliations  he  may 
claim,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  accepts  the  Jeffer- 
sonian  theory  of  government."  In  the  light  of  th's 
fact,  which  has  other  endorsement  than  Higginson's, 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  charge  of  mendacity  against  Jeffer 
son  has  almost  the  force  of  a  national  indictment.  Can 
it  be  that  "the  average  American"  is,  by  instinct  and 
habit,  "constitutionally  incapable  of  putting  a  proper 
value  on  truthfulness?"  Most  assuredly,  those  who 
"have  dared  lift  their  puny  voices  against  the  infallible 
purposes,  opinions,  or  recollections  of  T.  Roosevelt, 
have  quickly  found  themselves  in  this  mendacious 
class,  for  whom  is  rightly  provided  no  court  of  appeal. 

There  is  no  particular  shock  to  American  sensi 
bilities  in  T.  R.'s  discovery  of  Napoleon's  "utter  un- 
scrupulousness,  and  marvelous  mendacity."  We  have 
long  entertained  the  opinion  that  the  Man  of  Destiny 
was  "no  gentleman," — from  his  treatment  of  poor 
Josephine,  and  certain  traditions  that  have  come  down 
to  us  about  his  table  manners.  So  if  it  pleases  our 
T.  R.  to  add  lying  to  the  Napoleonic  accomplishments, 
we  shall  enter  no  demurrer.  N.  Bonaparte  being  one 
of  those  European  "down-and-outs"  and  "dead-so- 
longs,"  who  have  left  not  even  a  shining  "footprint  on 
the  sand"  for  the  emulation  of  American  youth, — but 
only  those  warning  initials,  N.  B. — to  "take  notice" 
and  avoid  his  fate,  most  anything  that  T.  R.  or  any 
body  else  may  wish  to  say  in  derogation  of  the  once 
mighty  ruler,  whose  Star  of  Destiny  has  set  in  eternal 
gloom,  cannot  get  up  any  controversy  on  this  side  the 
water. 

With  Jefferson  and  other  American  statesmen  who 
have  come  under  the  lambasting  pen  of  Historian 
Roosevelt,  the  case  is  different,  naturally. 

But  the  liveliest  American  interest  was  aroused 
when  Mr.  Roosevelt  began  applying  his  favorite  epi- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  149 

thet  to  prominent  living  citizens  of  the  Republic.  The 
first  of  these  to  receive  the  Ananias  decoration  was 
Judge  Alton  B.  Parker  of  New  York,  who — as  some 
persons  may  remember — was  the  Democratic  candi 
date  for  President  in  1904,  when  T.  Roosevelt  was 
leading  the  Republican  hosts.  In  October  of  that 
year,  Judge  Parker  issued  from  Esopus  the  statement : 
"Vast  sums  of  money  have  been  contributed  for  the 
control  of  this  election  in  aid  of  the  Administration  by 
corporations  and  trusts." 

This  statement  was  of  course  promptly  nailed  by 
Administration  organs  as  "a  campaign  lie." 

Then  on  Oct.  31  in  a  speech  at  the  Madison  Square 
Garden,  Parker  reiterated  his  charge  and  inserted  in 
it  a  pin-prick  for  Roosevelt,  as  follows :  "In  an  earlier 
utterance,  I  have  referred  in  detail  to  what  is  notori 
ously  going  on  in  the  matter  of  the  collection  of  funds 
by  the  Republican  party  for  this  campaign.  .  .  . 
Congress  creates  a  new  Department  of  Commerce  and 
Labor.  Of  that  Department,  the  President  appoints 
a  Secretary  (Cortelyou),  who  has  been  his  private 
secretary.  Within  that  Department  provision  is  made 
for  the  collection  from  large  corporations — including 
the  so-called  trusts — of  information  which,  be  it  borne 
in  mind,  is  to  be  submitted  to  the  President,  for  pub 
lic  or  private  use  as  he  may  direct.  ...  By  grace 
of  the  same  Executive,  this  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  through  whose  Department  this  informa 
tion  is  collected,  becomes  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
National  Committee.  His  chief  duty  in  this  position 
is  to  collect  funds  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
election  of  the  President.  And  it  is  more  notorious 
that  there  has  resulted  from  this  organized  importun 
ity — whatever  may  be  the  precise  way  in  which  it  is 
made  effective — an  overflowing  treasury  to  the  Com 
mittee,  of  which  boast  is  openly  made."  .  .  . 

In  Jersey  City,  Nov.  I,  Judge  Parker  again:  "As  I 


I5O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND  FABLE 

have  taken  occasion  to  say  before,  and  deem  it  my 
duty  to  say  again,  the  trusts  are  furnishing  the  money 
with  which  they  hope  to  carry  this  election." 

President  Roosevelt,  with  commendable  self-re 
straint,  waited  until  Nov.  5 — three  days  before  elec 
tion,  and  then  let  fly  the  fulminations  of  his  wrath 
and  righteous  denial  of  the  "slanderous  accusations  re 
peated  time  and  again  by  Judge  Parker.  .  .  .  He 
has  neither  produced  nor  can  produce  any  proof  of 
their  truth.  ...  I  speak,  lest  the  silence  of  self- 
respect  be  misunderstood.  The  gravamen  of  these 
charges  lies  in  the  assertion  that  the  corporations  have 
been  blackmailed  into  contributing,  and  in  the  impli 
cation,  which  in  one  or  two  of  Mr.  Parker's  speeches 
has  the  form  of  assertion,  that  they  (the  trusts)  have 
been  promised  certain  immunities  or  favors,  or  have 
been  assured  that  they  would  receive  some  kind  of 
improper  consideration  in  view  of  their  contributions. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Parker's  accusations  against  Mr.  Corteiyou 
and  me  are  inventions.  //  true,  they  would  brand 
both  of  us  with  infamy;  and  inasmuch  as  they  are 
false,  heavy  must  be  the  responsibility  of  the  man 
making  them.  ...  I  cannot  understand  how  any 
honorable  man,  a  candidate  for  the  highest  office  in 
the  gift  of  the  nation,  can  take  refuge  not  merely  in 
personalities,  but  such  base  and  unworthy  personali 
ties.  .  .  .  The  statements  made  by  Mr.  Parker  are 
unqualifiedly  and  atrociously  false!" 

And  so  it  came  about,  when  Judge  Parker  was  bur 
ied  'neath  the  snow  of  adverse  ballots  on  November  8, 
1904,  he  also  went  down  to  political  death  with  Mr. 
Roosevelt's  Ananias  decorations  pinned  all  over  him. 

The  accusations  anent  the  campaign  contributions 
by  the  trusts,  were  forgotten  for  a  time.  The  man 
who  had  made  them  was  found  guilty  of  that  gravest 
American  offence  of  "failing  like  failure;"  the  man 
who  had  issued  such  indignant,  manly  denial  of  them 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE  15! 

was  riding  the  top  crest  of  "succeeding  like  success." 
Rebuked  by  both  President  Roosevelt  and  the  Ameri 
can  people,  there  seemed  no  immediate  role  open  to 
Judge  Parker,  except  to  "keep  still,  and  be  good." 
And  so  he  retired  to  the  shades  of  Esopus,  silenced  if 
not  convinced. 

But  tho'  the  publicity  organs  grind  slowly,  they 
sometimes  grind  well,  even  for  a  defeated  presidential 
aspirant,  and  to  the  manifest  discomfiture  of  the  man 
entrusted  with  the  job.  The  investigations  and  con 
sequent  exposures  of  crookedness  in  the  big  life  in 
surance  companies  of  New  York  in  1906,  brought  out 
in  sworn  testimony  the  fact  that  the  Equitable,  Mutual 
and  New  York  Life  had  contributed  $150,000  to  the 
Republican  campaign  fund  of  1904,  the  same  being 
the  money  of  their  trusting  policy  holders.  This  dam 
aging  revelation — being  sworn  to  before  a  Committee 
empowered  to  take  evidence  in  the  case,  was  not  de 
nied  by  the  Republican  managers, — denial  in  this  case 
being  rather  risky,  since  both  Treasurer  Bliss  and 
Chairman  Cortelyou  could  have  been  summoned  on 
the  witness-stand  by  the  investigating  Committee. 

Cut  off  from  the  sacred  right  of  "denial"  by  this 
hard,  unyielding  circumstance,  Mr.  Roosevelt  was 
represented  in  the  public  press,  as  "much  stirred  and 
grieved  by  the  Insurance  disclosures."  He  was  even 
reported  to  have  remarked  to  one  of  his  intimates, 
that  he  "felt  his  election  in  1904  was  somewhat  dis 
credited"  by  the  Insurance  scandals,  and  he  "wanted 
to  know"  if  there  were  not  some  means  of  restoring 
the  money ! 

This  was  immediately  construed  by  a  trusting  pub 
lic  as  fresh  proof  of  that  "sensitive  moral  sense"  ac 
credited  to  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  no  doubt  the  despoiled 
widows  and  orphans  were  comforted  in  a  measure  by 
the  knowledge  thus  afforded,  that  their  virtuous  Pres 
ident  "suffered  with  them"  (mentally)  over  their 


152  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

losses.  George  W.  Perkins  of  the  New  York  Life 
should  have  been  able  to  quiet  the  Rooseveltian  mis 
givings  to  a  degree,  since  he  it  was,  we  believe,  who 
had  owned  to  contributing  the  Insurance  money  to  the 
Republican  fund  in  a  Bryan  campaign  year,  and  justi 
fied  it  upon  the  ground — that  it  was  better  to  do  this 
than  to  allow  the  country  to  go  to  the  demnition  bow 
wows  under  Bryan!  This  eminently  patriotic  view 
(in  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  doubtless  concurred)  was 
perfectly  natural  to  men  in  the  Perkins  class;  only, 
it  did  seem,  in  the  pious  cant  of  that  class,  a  trifle  "un- 
American"  not  to  allow  the  innocent  policyholders  to 
choose  their  own  mode  of  going  to  destruction, — 
whether  at  the  hands  of  Bryan  or  the  Insurance  com 
panies. 

This  George  W.  Perkins,  as  we  learn  from  an  article 
in  July  Munsey  (1903)  entitled  "Men  About  the  Pres 
ident,"  from  the  pen  of  a  Roosevelt  admirer,  was  "one 
of  President  Roosevelt's  close  friends  and  unofficial 
counselors,  who  could  have  almost  any  position  in  the 
power  of  the  President  to  offer!" 

Quite  naturally,  this  "close  friend  and  unofficial 
counselor"  of  President  Roosevelt  wanted  to  have  him 
elected  in  1904,  and  probably  thought  also,  that  Par 
ker's  splashing  around  in  that  impudent  fashion  about 
the  "Interests,"  showed  him  to  be  as  great  a  menace 
to  the  country  as  Bryan. 

And  so  Friend  Perkins  was  again  ready  to  lay  the 
money  of  widows  and  orphans  upon  the  altar  of  his 
country  and  his  Rooseveltian  friendship, — only  of 
course,  out  of  delicate  consideration  for  the  "sensitive 
moral  sense"  of  his  Presidential  friend,  he  kept  the 
painful  fact  from  him,  until  it  was  too  late  to  do  any 
thing  except  "grieve  and  wonder." 

The  Insurance  disclosures  revived  the  memory  of 
the  Parker  charges,  and  vindicated  their  truth  m  large 
measure,  though  nobody  was  so  irreverent  as  to  con- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  153 

nect  President  Roosevelt's  name  in  any  official  way 
with  the  "corruption  fund."  Judge  Parker's  accusa 
tions  received  further  confirmation  in  the  Spring  of 
1907,  by  the  publication  of  the  now  famous  "Harri- 
man  letters,"  which  brought  President  Roosevelt  di 
rectly  into  the  fray. 

Those  who  keep  track  of  current  events  will  re 
member  the  sensational  headline,  "President  Roose 
velt  on  Harriman's  Trail,"  which  appeared  in  the  pub 
lic  prints  about  March  23,  1907,  followed  by  the  an 
nouncement:  "President  Roosevelt  is  understood  to 
have  reached  a  determination  to  prosecute  E.  H.  Har- 
riman.  Under  the  President's  personal  direction,  the 
Department  of  Justice  is  looking  into  the  matter,  altho' 
the  final  hearings  on  the  Harriman  Merger  will  not  be 
held  until  April  4th.  The  President  wants  to  know 
whether  on  the  evidence  already  submitted,  he  can 
make  a  case  against  Harriman  under  the  Sherman 
Anti-trust  law,  or  under  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Act."  .  .  . 

On  being  informed  by  the  Government's  lawyers 
that  Harriman,  if  prosecuted  at  all  for  his  iniquitous 
"Chicago-Alton  deal,"  would  have  to  be  prosecuted 
under  the  State  laws  of  Illinois,  President  Roosevelt 
promptly  called  Gov.  Deneen  and  Attorney-General 
Stead  into  the  conference,  and  being  confronted  with 
the  further  astounding  fact,  brought  forward  by  the 
Illinois  attorney-general,  that  there  was  not  at  present, 
any  State  statute  which  was  competent  to  deal  with 
the  Harriman  offence,  he  had  Gov.  Deneen  to  formu 
late  a  bill  at  once,  and  submit  it  to  the  Legislature — 
which  if  enacted  into  law,  would  make  it  impossible 
in  the  future  for  criminals  of  the  Harriman  type  to 
escape  the  just  reward  of  their  crimes. 

The  public  was  not  informed  at  the  time  (and  but 
for  the  untimely  production  of  Harriman's  letter  to 
Sydney  Webster,  it  is  not  likely  it  would  ever  have 


154       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

been  so  informed),  that  in  the  Fall  campaign  of  1906, 
E.  H.  Harriman  had  politely  but  firmly  refused  the 
Hon.  Jim  Sherman's  (he  that  is  now  James  School- 
craft,  but  at  that  time  Chairman  of  the  Republican 
Congressional  Committee)  solicitations  for  funds  with 
which  to  carry  the  Grand  Old  Party  to  victory  in  New 
York  State, — the  reading  public  was  not  informed  of 
this  at  the  time  of  the  righteous  and  vigorous  Roose 
velt  purpose  to  impale  Harriman  upon  the  teeth  of  the 
law;  and  if  the  reading  public  had  been  acquainted 
with  this  antecedent  event,  the  Roosevelt  claquers 
would  not  have  permitted  any  logical  connection  be 
tween  it  and  the  proposed  Harriman  prosecution,  not 
if  they  knew  it! 

But  the  publication,  on  April  3rd,  1907,  of  Harri- 
man's  letter  to  his  personal  friend  and  business  aJ- 
viser,  Sydney  Webster  (who  had  just  sent  him  a 
friendly  warning  to  beware  of  being  drawn  into  poli 
tics),  throws  a  flood  of  cruel  light  upon  the  whole  un 
happy  Harriman-Roosevelt  mix-up. 

This  letter,  which  came  to  light  on  the  aforesaid 
date,  was  penned  by  Harriman  late  in  Dec.,  1905,  and 
contained  the  following  startling  information :  "About 
a  week  before  election,  in  the  autumn  of  1904,  when 
it  looked  certain  that  the  State  ticket  would  go  Demo 
cratic,  and  was  doubtful  as  to  Roosevelt  himself,  he, 
the  President,  sent  me  a  request  to  go  to  Washington 
to  confer  upon  the  political  conditions  of  New  York 
State.  ...  I  complied,  and  he  told  me  he  under 
stood  the  campaign  could  not  be  successfully  carried 
on  without  sufficient  money,  and  asked  me  if  I  could 
help  them  in  raising  the  necessary  funds,  as  the  na 
tional  Committee,  under  control  of  Chairman  Cortel- 
you,  had  utterly  failed  of  obtaining  them,  and  there 
was  a  large  amount  due  from  them  to  the  New  York 
State  committee.  .  .  .  We  talked  over  what  could 
be  done  for  Depew,  and  finally  he  agreed  that  if  found 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  155 

necessary,  he  would  appoint  him  as  ambassador  to 
Paris.  .  .  .  With  full  belief  that  the  President 
would  keep  this  agreement,  I  came  back  to  New  York, 
sent  for  Treasurer  Bliss,  who  told  me  I  was  their  last 
hope,  and  that  they  had  exhausted  every  other  re 
source.  In  his  presence  I  called  up  an  intimate  friend 
of  Senator  Depew,  told  him  that  in  order  to  carry  New 
York,  it  was  necessary  that  $200,000  should  be  raised 
at  once,  and  if  he  would  help,  I  would  subscribe  $50,- 
ooo.  .  .  .  After  a  few  words  over  the  telephone,  the 
gentleman  said  he  would  let  me  know,  which  he  did, 
probably  in  three  or  four  hours,  with  the  result,  that 
the  whole  amount  ($260,000)  had  been  raised. 
The  checks  were  given  to  Treasurer  Bliss,  who  took 
them  to  Chairman  Cortelyou.  If  there  were  any 
among  them  of  Life  Insurance  companies,  or  any  other 
like  organizations,  of  course  Cortelyou  must  have  in 
formed  the  President.  I  do  not  know  who  the  sub 
scribers  were,  other  than  the  friend  of  Depew,  who 
was  an  individual.  This  amount  enabled  the  New 
York  State  committee  to  continue  its  work,  with  the 
result  that  at  least  50,000  votes  were  turned  in  the 
City  of  New  York  alone,  making  a  difference  of  100,- 
ooo  votes  in  the  general  result."  .  .  . 

After  the  noise  caused  by  this  bomb  exploding  at 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  feet,  and  the  responsive  explosion  of 
Rooseveltian  wrath,  had  somewhat  subsided;  after 
"the  short  ugly  word"  had  been  passed  from  the  out 
raged  President  to  the  railway  magnate  and  "malefac 
tor  of  great  wealth,"  and  Roosevelt  had  prepared  and 
submitted  what  the  New  York  Sun  cynically  charac 
terized  as  "his  defensive,  protective,  and  antiseptic 
statement"  to  Representative  Jim  Sherman  (now 
James  Schoolcraft,  and  Candidate  for  the  Vice-presi 
dency)  ;  Harriman  explained,  quietly  enough,  that  he 
was  not  responsible  for  the  publication  of  the  un 
lucky  epistle;  that  he  learned  to  his  dismay,  that  it  had 


156  ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

been  reproduced  from  stenographic  notes  by  a  former 
employe  of  his,  who  had  been  dismissed,  and  by  this 
unscrupulous  stenographer  sold  to  a  New  York  news 
paper.  That  he  very  much  regretted  the  making  pub 
lic  of  what  he  had  intended  for  the  eyes  of  his  friend 
alone.  But,  now  that  the  letter  was  out,  through  no 
fault  of  his,  he  had  nothing  to  retract  as  to  the  state 
ments  therein  contained.  He  had  related  only  facts 
as  to  what  occurred  between  the  President  and  him 
self  in  the  Fall  of  1904,  and  he  was  ready  to  defend 
it  with  his  latest  breath,  and  anything  else  of  value  he 
possessed, — or  words  to  that  effect. 

It  is  manifestly  not  the  province  of  this  modest  little 
volume,  to  decide  so  delicate  a  question  as  an  issue  of 
veracity  between  a  President  of  the  United  States,  and 
a  president  of  a  Railway  Merger,  who  was  also  a 
"malefactor  of  great  wealth,"  and  after  his  rencontre 
with  the  President,  acquired  some  other  titles  more  or 
less  flattering. 

The  candid  reader  must  determine  for  himself, 
whether  Mr.  Harriman's  letter  to  Sydney  Webster 
carries  the  ring  of  truth,  and  what  possible  motive  he 
could  have  had  for  stating  anything  but  his  honest 
recollection  of  the  transaction,  recited  to  his  friend  at 
a  time  when  he  could  not  have  expected  the  letter  to 
be  made  public,  whatever  may  have  been  the  mode  or 
the  motive  for  its  final  publication.  For  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  the  letter  was  written  more  than 
a  year  before  any  proceedings  had  been  instituted  by 
the  President  against  Harriman,  several  months  even 
before  Harriman's  churlish  refusal  to  contribute  to 
Mr.  Sherman's  campaign  needs,  and  while  he  was  yet 
on  the  friendliest  terms  with  President  Roosevelt. 
The  candid  reader  will  likewise  form  his  own  opinion 
of  the  aforesaid  "defensive,  protective,  and  antiseptic 
statement"  given  out  by  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  the  Hon. 
Jim. — beg  pardon,  to  the  Hon.  James  Schoolcraft 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  157 

Sherman  of  New  York.  Herein  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  con 
victed  of  trying  to  make  it  appear  that  Harriman  had 
taken  the  initiative  in  the  negotiations  of  1904,  and 
that  he — Roosevelt  had  allowed  him  to  come  to  Wash 
ington  at  his  own  request.  Thus,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
writes  to  Mr.  Sherman:  "On  his  (Harriman's)  re 
turn  from  spending  the  summer  in  Europe,  on  Sept. 
20,  he  wrote  me,  stating  that  if  I  thought  it  desirable, 
he  would  come  to  see  me  at  any  time,  then  or  later. 
On  Sept.  23  I  answered  his  letter  saying:  'At  pres 
ent  there  is  nothing  for  me  to  see  you  about,  tho'  there 
were  one  or  two  points  in  my  letter  of  acceptance 
which  I  would  like  to  have  discussed  with  you  before 
putting  it  out.' >: 

Hereupon  Harriman,  with  the  cold,  business  instinct 
of  a  "practical  man,"  and  troubled  now  with  no  fool 
ish  squeamishness  about  the  sanctity  of  a  personal  cor 
respondence,  promptly  gave  to  the  press  the  following 
letter  which  he  says  he  received  while  in  Europe: 
"White  House,  Washington,  June  29,  1904.  My  Dear 
Mr.  Harriman :  I  thank  you  for  your  letter.  As  soon 
as  you  come  home,  I  shall  want  to  see  you.  The  fight 
will  doubtless  be  hot  then.  It  has  been  a  real  pleasure 
to  see  you  this  year.  Very  truly  yours,  Theodore 
Roosevelt." 

All  of  this  interesting  and  highly  instructive  Harri- 
man-Roosevelt  correspondence  (too  voluminous  for 
reproduction  here)  may  be  found  in  the  issues  (April 
2nd,  3rd  and  4th,  1907)  of  the  Washington  Post,  and 
in  other  large  dailies  of  the  country.  Senator  Gore, 
on  April  9,  1908,  had  one  of  them  read  in  the  Senate 
and  inserted  in  the  Congressional  Record,  page  4745, 
which  he  had  quoted  from  the  New  York  Tribune  of 
April  3,  1907. 

As  this  one,  we  understand,  has  been  pronounced  a 
"forgery"  by  some  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  Western  ad 
mirers,  we  give  it  as  quoted  f roni  the  Tribune : 


158        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

"Oct.  14,  1904.  My  Dear  Harriman :  A  suggestion 
has  come  to  me  in  a  roundabout  way  that  you  do  not 
think  it  wise  to  come  on  to  see  me  in  these  closing 
weeks  of  the  campaign,  but  that  you  are  reluctant  to 
refuse,  inasmuch  as  I  have  asked  you.  Now,  my  dear 
sir,  you  and  I  are  practical  men,  and  you  are  on  the 
ground  and  know  the  conditions  better  than  I  do.  If 
you  think  there  is  any  danger  of  your  visit  to  me  caus 
ing  trouble,  or  if  you  think  there  is  nothing  special  I 
should  be  informed  about,  or  no  matter  in  which  I 
could  give  aid,  why,  of  course,  give  up  the  visit  for 
the  time  being,  and  then  a  few  weeks  hence,  before  I 
write  my  message,  I  shall  ask  you  to  come  down  to 
discuss  certain  Government  matters  not  connected  with 
the  campaign.  With  great  regards,  Sincerely  yours, 
Theodore  Roosevelt.," 

It  is  asserted,  upon  the  authority  of  a  United  States 
Senator  and  a  lawyer  of  repute,  that  any  signed  com 
munication  appearing  in  the  public  prints,  and  not 
contradicted  by  the  signer,  becomes  a  public  fact,  fur 
ther  established  by  the  legal  liability  of  any  newspa 
per  publishing  a  bogus  letter.  We  respectfully  call  the 
attention  of  our  Western  enthusiasts  to  this  opinion, 
and  to  the  further  fact  that  their  hero  himself  never 
denied  (with  all  his  great  powers  of  denial)  the  au 
thorship  of  this  letter,  but  included  it — somewhat  para 
phrased  and  edited  perhaps — in  his  "defensive,  pro 
tective  and  antiseptic" — before  referred  to. 

The  only  thing  in  this  Harriman  mix-up  which  Mr. 
Roosevelt  branded  as  a  malicious  falsehood,  was  the 
statement,  that  "I  ever  asked  him  to  contribute  to  the 
presidential  or  my  personal  campaign!" 

Ah,  but  that  was  not  the  Harriman  statement !  Mr. 
Harriman  stated,  as  clearly  appears  from  his  letter, 
and  reiterated  by  him  afterwards,  that  Mr.  Roosevelt 
asked  him  to  raise  funds  for  the  New  York  State  cam 
paign,  and  if  before  his  and  Mr.  Roosevelt's  eyes  there 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

swung  the  political  aphorism,  "as  goes  New  York,  so 
goes  the  nation,"  nothing  of  this  sort  is  mentioned  in 
their  correspondence.  True,  Mr.  Roosevelt  had  prom 
ised  as  a  reward  of  the  Harriman  services,  to  appoint 
Senator  Depew  ambassador  to  Paris, — a  promise 
which  he  did  not  afterwards  find  it  "necessary"  to 
keep,  it  appears. 

However  the  Roosevelt-Harriman  contention  may 
be  settled,  according  to  individual  opinion  and  prefer 
ence,  it  clearly  appears  above  it  all,  as  also  from  the 
Insurance  exposures,  that  Judge  Parker  only  spoke 
forth  "the  words  of  truth  and  soberness"  in  his  cam 
paign  charges  of  1904;  and  if  there  were  any  doubt 
about  it,  it  would  be  settled  in  some  minds  by  an  edi 
torial  appearing  in  the  Washington  Post  (which  usu 
ally  has  a  fresh  boquet  every  morning  for  the  Roose 
velt  plate) — some  months  ago,  commenting  on  some 
body's  jesting  proposal  of  Alton  B.  for  the  Democratic 
presidential  nomination, — the  Post  seriously  affirmed, 
that  if  the  country  had  known  as  much  about  the 
"campaign  contributions"  in  1904  as  it  does  now,  there 
is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Judge  Parker  would  at  this 
moment  be  seated  in  the  White  House. 

It  was  certainly  not  the  Judge's  fault  that  the  coun 
try  didn't  know  all  about  these  unholy  "campaign  con 
tributions."  He  had  done  his  best  to  enlighten  the 
country  on  that  head,  but  the  country,  it  seems,  at  that 
time  preferred  to  accept  the  T.  R.  version;  and  just  so 
long  as  the  country  evinces  this  marvelous  avidity  for 
Rooseveltian  fable,  just  so  long  will  Rooseveltian  fable 
pass  current.  The  supply  will  always  be  equal  to  the 
demand,  with  no  danger  of  shrinkage  or  short  crops. 

Yet  tho'  the  Parker  charges  have  been  fully  estab 
lished,  probably  not  even  the  wicked  editors  of  the 
New  York  Sun  and  Harper's  Weekly  would  be  so 
cruel  as  to  apply  Mr.  Roosevelt's  own  verdict,  that,  "if 


160        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

true,  they  brand  both  Mr.  Cortelyou  and  me  with 
infamy." 

Nobody  in  this  courteous  age  would  wish  to  say 
anything  like  that  of  either  Mr.  Roosevelt  or  Mr.  Cor 
telyou.  They  are  both  very  proper,  virtuous  gentle 
men,  who  are  sometimes  driven  by  political  exigencies, 
to  adopt  the  ordinary  methods  of  the  ordinary  "prac 
tical"  politician, — -without  the  ordinary  politician's 
saving  grace  of  frankness. 

In  the  political  gossip  which  the  Hon.  James  School- 
craft  (we  got  it  right  that  time!)  Sherman  carried  to 
President  Roosevelt  of  the  Harriman-Sherman  inter 
view  over  the  subject  of  campaign  funds  in  1906,  Har- 
riman  is  represented  as  not  only  so  impervious  to 
patriotic  -appeal,  as  not  to  care  whether  New  York 
was  saved  from  Hearst  and  Socialism  or  not,  but  like 
wise  so  lost  to  decency  as  to  declare,  that  "when  he 
wanted  anything  he  could  buy  the  New  York  Legisla 
ture — no  matter  what  its  political  complexion — or  he 
could  buy  Congress,  or  buy  the  Judiciary  if  neces 
sary!" 

This  brazen  assertion  from  the  wealthy  corruption- 
ist  naturally  gave  a  great  shock  to  the  moral  sensi 
bilities  of  both  President  Roosevelt  and  Secretary 
Root  (so  reported  by  the  Washington  local  press), 
Root  probably  receiving  an  extra  shock  on  his  own  ac 
count,  since  this  same  "indecent"  Harriman  had  openly 
asserted  that  all  the  successful  "octopus"  schemes  of 
Mr.  Thos.  F.  Ryan  of  New  York  had  been  manipu 
lated  for  him  by  "the  adroit  mind"  of  Elihu  Roott 
Truly,  E.  H.  Harriman's  "cup  of  iniquity  was  full." 

He  was  not  only  "a  deliberate  and  malicious  falsi 
fier,"  but  also  "an  undesirable  citizen  of  the  same  class 
as  Eugene  Debs,  and  Haywood  and  Mover!" 

True,  Mr.  Harriman  denied  the  assertions  imputed 
to  him  by  the  Hon.  Jim  (oh,  you  know  the  rest),  tho' 
not  the  one  anent  the  Ryan-Root  combination,  he  evi-* 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  l6l 

dently  entertaining  the  crude  idea  that  one  man  has  as 
many  rights  as  another  in  this  country — in  the  matter 
of  denial.  He  was  to  learn  his  mistake.  He  had  been 
branded  as  a  "liar" — officially  branded  as  such,  and  the 
brand  bore  the  T.  R.  signature,  which  made  it  unmis 
takable.  Hereafter,  none  of  the  Harriman  statements 
will  be  believed  by  any  proper-minded  persons.  An ! 
the  saddest  part  of  it  all  was,  that  this  had  befallen  one 
who  was  once  a  "dear  friend"  and  trusty  campaign 
ally;  who  had  even  been  bidden  to  state  councils,  to 
confer  on  "governmental  details"  in  the  letter  of  ac 
ceptance,  and  the  anticipated  message ! 

Alas,  poor  Harriman!  He  doubtless  deserved  his 
fate,  which  of  course  made  it  all  the  harder  to  bear, 
and  his  only  crumb  of  comfort — that  time-honored 
solace  of  the  miserable — was  in  the  knowledge  that  he 
was  not  the  first  nor  only  victim  of  Rooseveltian  love- 
grown-cold. 

There  was  ex-Senator  William  E.  Chandler  of  New 
Hampshire,  a  Republican  of  unflinching  personal  in 
tegrity, — tho'  confessedly  a  partizan,  who  stood  so 
high  in  Rooseveltian  esteem  in  the  Spring  of  1906,  that 
he  was  made  the  President's  chosen  emissary  to  the 
Democratic  camp  in  the  negotiations  between  the  lat 
ter  and  the  White  House  over  the  pending  railroad 
rate  bill.  And  then  when  that  unnatural  and  short 
lived  Tillman-Bailey-Roosevelt  alliance  went  all  to 
smithereens,  with  the  result  on  the  face  of  the  returns, 
that  either  the  President  or  his  intermediaries  (Chand 
ler  and  Attorney-General  Moody)  had  been  guilty  of 
bad  faith  toward  the  Democratic  allies,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
promptly  charged  that  he  had  been  misrepresented  by 
Senator  Chandler.  Chandler  reiterating  his  "misrep 
resentation,"  Mr.  Roosevelt  changed  the  charge  to  a 
shorter,  uglier  accusation,  and  his  discredited  emissary 
had  no  choice  but  to  wear  his  Ananias  badge  as  grace 
fully  as  possible,  seeing  it  had  been  pinned  on  by  his, 


1 62  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

own  political  sovereign,  who  was  forced  to  do  it  in 
order  to  save  his  own  political  honor ! 

Then  there  were  Mr.  Roosevelt's  Catholic  friends, 
"Dear  Bellamy"  and  "Dear  Maria"  Storer,  with  whom 
he  had  been  corresponding  for  years  on  the  freest, 
most  intimate  terms,  in  regard  to  a  project  dear  to 
them  all  three, — the  elevation  of  Archbishop  Ireland 
to  the  cardinalate.  (See  the  full  text  of  the  Roosevelt- 
Storer  correspondence  in  Washington  Post  of  date 
December  gth,  loth,  nth,  I2th,  I3th,  i7th,  i8th,  28th, 
1906.) 

But  alas!,  there  came  a  time  when,  by  some  un 
toward  leaking,  Mr.  Roosevelt's  intrigues,  or  at 
tempted  intrigues  with  the  Vatican,  became  known  to 
the  public,  and  the  American  Constitution  being  rather 
explicit  on  this  score,  he  was  again  confronted  with 
the  hard  alternative  of  being  compromised  before  the 
American  public  himself,  or  compromising  his  friends, 
— with  the  usual  sequel.  Pursuing  his  usual  chivalric 
lines  in  such  cases,  he  administered  a  stinging  rebuke 
to  poor  "dear  Maria"  in  the  form  of  a  letter,  which  he 
exhibited  to  others  before  mailing  to  Mrs.  Storer. 
"Dear  Bellamy"  was  given  the  Ananias  decoration, 
because  of  his  assertion  that  President  Roosevelt  had 
in  the  summer  of  1903  sent  a  message  to  the  Pope  by 
him  in  regard  to  making  Ireland  a  cardinal. 

But  "dear  Bellamy"  does  not  appear  to  have  worn 
his  new  honors  as  submissively  as  some  others,  simi 
larly  decorated — more  honor  to  him ! 

He  gave  to  the  press  enough  of  the  mutual  corre 
spondence  to  vindicate  his  and  his  wife's  position;  he 
likewise  said :  "When  the  President  denies  authorizing 
my  oral  message  to  the  Pope,  he  forgets  that  he  told 
Archbishop  Ireland  the  same  thing,  and  that  I  have 
the  Archbishop's  letter  to  prove  it." 

Along  with  the  correspondence,  Mr.  Storer  pub 
lished  the  following : 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT    AND  I7 ABLE  163 

"I  cannot  trust  myself  to  express  fully  the  feeling 
of  indignation  with  which  I  read  the  letter  to  Mrs. 
Storer.  Tho'  I  was  in  the  public  service,  I  felt,  and 
still  feel,  that  I  had  lost  none  of  the  rights  which  a 
man  has  to  judge  of  the  propriety  of  letters  addressed 
to  his  wife,  and  to  resent  an  improper  communication. 
I  did  not  then  know  what  I  have  since  learned,  that 
the  letter  was  not  even  written  for  my  wife's  eyes  or 
mine  alone,  but  had  been  shown  to  others  before  it 
was  sent,  and  thus  used  to  make  a  case  against  a  lady, 
a  trusting  friend,  who  could  not  be  heard  in  her  own 
defence.  My  wife  was  deliberately  accused  of  having 
quoted  isolated  sentences  from  the  President's  letters 
to  convince  other  persons  that  he  was  doing  exactly 
what,  as  he  asserts  he  had  explicitly  stated  that  he 
would  not  do.  .  .  .  The  tone  of  long-suffering  and 
outraged  patience,  the  careful  omission  of  anything 
that  the  writer  himself  had  done,  or  authorised  to  be 
done  in  the  matter  complained  of,  the  quotation  from 
the  letters  written  at  the  time  of  my  errand  to  the 
Pope,  without  any  of  the  facts  which  would  give  those 
letters  their  true  character,  or  show  that  they  were  an 
angry  complaint  because  what  he  had  directed  to  be 
done,  had  become  known, — these  things,  with  the 
abusive  personal  characterization  of  my  wife,  and  the 
assumed  indignation  with  what  had  been  permitted — 
where  not  expressly  directed — seemed  to  me  to  put 
the  letter  outside  the  limit  of  anything  justifiable  even 
in  a  stranger."  .  .  . 

Time  and  space  forbid  anything  like  a  full  member 
ship  list  of  the  now  famous  "Ananias  Club"  founded 
by  Mr.  Roosevelt.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  for  a  while 
in  Washington,  it  looked  like  pretty  nearly  everybody 
in  the  nation  would  be  proven  a  liar — except  Roose 
velt! 

Then  the  "liars"  were  given  a  little  respite,  after 


164        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

Harriman's  misdemeanors  brought  the  "undesirable 
citizens"  into  the  lime-light. 

These  also  comprise  a  numerous  class  (embracing 
at  present  all  who  intend  to  vote  for  Bryan),  but  in 
the  beginning  the  charter  membership  was  small, — 
Harriman,  Debs,  Hay  wood  and  Moyer.  No  just  plea 
can  be  made  for  the  first  two,  the  one  being  a  rich 
malefactor,  and  the  other  a  red-handed  anarchist — by 
all  the  rules  of  the  game.  But  the  circumstances  sur 
rounding  the  last  two  at  the  time  of  the  President's 
denunciation,  made  it  a  little  grave.  Haywood  and 
Moyer  were  labor-union  leaders,  and  on  that  account, 
may  have  belonged  in  the  anarchistic  class  in  the  opin 
ion  of  some  people.  But  the  significant  thing  in  Mr. 
Roosevelt's  characterization  is,  that  these  two  men 
were  on  trial  for  their  lives ;  were  charged  with  a  cap 
ital  crime.  They  might,  or  might  not,  be  guilty  of 
complicity  in  the  murder  of  Idaho's  governor;  the  de 
cision  lay  as  yet  in  the  hands  of  "twelve  unprejudiced 
jurors.  Was  it  consistent  with  Presidential  decorum, 
or  with  the  "square  deal"  guaranteed  by  the  laws  of 
the  country,  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  attempt  to  influence 
the  jury,  and  anticipate  their  verdict  with  a  pronun- 
ciamento  of  his  own? 

Some  there  were  who  thought  they  perceived  a 
marked  decline  in  Mr.  Roosevelt's  popularity  after  this 
episode,  but  this  also  passed,  in  the  quickly  moving 
Roosevelt  cyclorama,  and  was  forgotten, — so  he 
hoped. 

Then  in  the  late  Spring  of  1907,  Mr.  Roosevelt 
dreamed  a  bad  dream,  which  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to 
communicate  immediately  to  his  publicity-monger?. 
This  perturbed  vision  was  of  a  political  "black  hand"; 
there  was  a  "rich  man's  conspiracy"  to  defeat  the 
Roosevelt  Policies! 

The  discovery  of  this  iniquitous  plot  is  ascribed  to 
the  President's  private  secretary,  Wm.  Loeb,  Jr.  He 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE       l6$ 

it  was  who  "caught  on"  to  it,  identified  the  conspira 
tors,  and  dragged  them  to  the  light.  Mr.  Loeb  has 
been  the  subject  of  some  facetious  newspaper  com 
ment,  because  he  once  (so  the  story  goes)  became 
panicky  over  a  ferocious  attack  by  Jack-rabbits  while 
accompanying  one  of  the  President's  hunting  trips  in 
the  West. 

This  encounter  with  the  Jack-rabbits  perhaps  un 
strung  Mr.  Loeb's  nerves,  and  pre-disposed  him  to 
frightful  apparitions.  The  plot,  as  given  in  detail  in 
the  press,  was  as  follows:  A  drunken  Senator,  bab 
bling  in  his  cups,  had  told  an  intimate  friend  of  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  at  a  dinner  party,  that  $5,000,000, — 
not  a  penny  more  nor  less — had  been  subscribed  by 
some  of  the  "criminally  rich"  to  defeat  Mr.  Roose 
velt,  or  "any  man  of  his  type,"  for  election  to  the  pres 
idency;  and  with  consistent  plutocratic  cunning,  this 
bibulous  and  plotting  Senator  offered  the  Roosevelt 
intimate  $25,000  to  come  into  the  conspiracy ! 

Think  of  trying  to  corrupt  a  Roosevelt  intimate  with 
a  paltry  $25,000 !  No  other  evidence  is  needed  of  the 
conspirator's  maudlin  condition.  Of  course  the  inti 
mate  only  waited  long  enough  to  get  the  names  of  all 
the  wicked  and  predatory  plotters  to  post  off  to  the 
White  House,  and  communicate  the  alarming  news  to 
Loeb, — and  Loeb,  after  getting  "good  and  scared" 
went  and  told  the  President,  and  the  President  told 
the  cuckoos,  and  the  cuckoos  told  the  country ! 

And  does  the  country  believe  it?  Great  pains  have 
been  taken  to  give  out  the  impression  to  the  country 
that  it  should  love  Mr.  Roosevelt  for  the  "enemies  he 
has  made."  Wall  Street  and  all  the  Captains  of  "pred 
atory  wealth"  have  been  pictured  lined  up  in  a  solid 
phalanx  against  Roosevelt  and  Roosevelt  "policies." 
No  attention  whatever  is  paid  to  the  fact  that  Roose 
velt  was  born  into  the  wealthy  class,  and  naturally 
sympathizes  with  them,  his  life-long  associates  and 


1 66       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

friends,  more  than  with  this  strange,  uncouth,  and 
horny-handed  multitude.  No  account  is  taken  of 
Roosevelt's  plutocratic  associates  and  intimates.  One 
of  the  reasons  assigned  for  Platt's  consenting  to  his 
nomination  for  governor  in  1898,  was  that  "two  influ 
ential  campaign  contributors,  Mr.  Morgan  and  Mr. 
Whitney — especially  Mr.  Morgan — liked  him."  It 
will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Morgan  was  at  an  Oys 
ter  Bay  conference  in  1904,  for  which  the  Roosevelt 
cuckoos  supplied  some  innocent  and  plausible  expla 
nation.  In  this  (1908)  campaign  year  of  grace,  when 
Mr.  Archbold's  (vice-president  of  Standard  Oil)  pri 
vate  yacht  is  observed  at  the  Oyster  Bay  moorings, 
Mr.  Loeb  hastens  to  assure  a  curious  and  interested 
public  that  Mr.  Archbold's  visit  "has  no  political  sig 
nificance!"  I  don't  know  what  we  should  do  without 
Loeb.  Without  his  ever-present,  and  ever-satisfying 
explanations,  we  would  lose  the  key  to  the  Roose- 
veltian  combination  time  out  of  number. 

One  thing  stands  out  in  bold  relief,  from  the  In 
surance  investigations  and  the  Harriman  letters,  and 
that  is,  that  Roosevelt  was  made  President  in  1904  in 
consequence  of  a  "rich  man's  conspiracy" ;  and  if  there 
is  any  "rich  men's  conspiracy"  existent  at  present,  it 
may  be  safely  argued  that  it  is  not  against  Roosevelt, 
but  against  the  toiling  masses,  and  by  all  the  signs  of 
the  Roosevelt  zodiac,  he  is  in  it,  of  it,  and  for  it! 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE  167 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

THE  BIG  STICK. 

"An  American  President  is  no  bloodless,  tame  af 
fair.  He  selects  his  own  cabineteers,  and  of  his  mo 
tion  may  disband  them.  He  rules ;  he  isn't  ruled.  He 
listens,  but  he  decides.  His  veto  is  equal  to  two-thirds 
of  Congress.  He  arbitrarily  controls  200,000  under 
lings  of  government,  who  draw  an  aggregate  annual 
salary  of  200  million  dollars.  An  English  king  may 
hardly  name  his  cook,  or  select  his  coachman.  The 
President  is  in  absolute  command  of  the  Army  and 
Navy,  and  may  order  them  to  attack  anybody  or  any 
thing,  at  home  or  abroad,  and  they  will  obey  that  or 
der.  Legally,  he  has  no  power  to  declare  war;  but 
since  in  fact  he  may  provoke  it,  begin  it,  and  end  it, 
one  sees  that  the  Constitution,  while  providing  a  dis 
tinction,  has  forgotten  to  provide  a  difference.  Every 
department  of  government  is  under  the  presidential 
thumb.  He  is,  if  not  above,  then  beyond  the  law ;  for 
the  highest  courts  will  not  issue  its  writs  of  summons, 
subpoena,  attachment,  mandamus,  injunction,  or  con 
tempt  against  him.  There  are  but  two  checks  to  your 
President, — public  opinion  and  the  Congressional 
power  of  impeachment.  The  latter  has  been  resorted 
to  but  once,  and  it  failed." 

In  this  graphic  language  has  Alfred  Henry  Lewis, 
one  of  the  Roosevelt  boomers  in  1904,  set  forth  the 
varied  governmental  functions  of  our  Chief  Execu 
tive.  Whether  he  caught  the  idea  of  the  "big  stick" 
from  Mr.  Lewis'  inspiring  epigrams,  or  evolved  it  out 


i68  ROOSEVELT: AN  FAcf  AND  FABLE 

of  his  own  inner  strenuousness,  pretty  soon  after  this, 
— or  was  it  before?  It  really  doesn't  matter,  for  it 
seems  to  be  as  well  established  as  the  Ten  Command 
ments  or  the  Golden  Rule — or  any  other  ancient  wis 
dom  which  has  neither  beginning  nor  end — at  some 
point  in  his  well-marked  and  well-advertised  career 
therefore — T.  R.  let  fall  the  careless  remark  which 
was  to  secure  him  more  fame  than  all  his  voluminous 
"literary  works,"  or  all  his  strenuous  speechifying, — 
more  even  than  the  unprecedented  output  of  presiden 
tial  messages,  regular  and  special. 

" Speak  softly,  carry  a  big  stick,  and  you  will  travel 
far,"  quoth  T.  R.  in  that  lucky  moment  when  his  Star 
of  Destiny  twinkled  in  the  American  firmament. 
Altho'  "speak  softly"  seems  to  have  had  precedence  of 
the  "big  stick"  in  the  original  grouping,  the  latter  has 
so  far  distanced  it  in  the  business  of  "travelling  far," 
that  many  persons  do  not  even  remember  that  "speak 
ing  softly"  was  once  the  ornamental  antithesis  of  the 
Roosevelt  BIG  STICK.  This  has  grown  by  what  it 
feeds  upon,  until  it  fills  all  the  land  with  its  bigness, 
and  has  completely  revolutionized  our  former  ideals  of 
government.  Most  thoughtful  students  of  our  Con 
stitution  realize  that  it  gives  too  much  power  to  the 
President.  It  has  been  pointed  out  by  more  than  one 
conservative  publicist,  that  this  Executive  power,  even 
within  Constitutional  limits,  might  become  a  great 
menace  to  popular  government,  when  placed  in  the 
hands  of  a  self-seeking,  unscrupulous  President.  For 
tunately  for  the  Republic,  most  of  her  presidents,  while 
evincing  the  common  infirmities  of  our  infirm  hu 
manity,  have  not  shown  an  aggressive  spirit  in  the 
matter  of  transcending  the  bounds  set  for  them  by 
the  Constitution. 

We  may  even  go  further  than  that,  and  say  that 
few  of  the  Presidents  preceding  Roosevelt  have  even 
come  up  to  the  full  measure  of  their  Constitutional 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  169 

prerogatives.  It  may  also  be  asserted  with  utmost 
truth,  and  without  any  exaggeration,  that  Theodore 
Roosevelt  has  overridden  his  Constitutional  bounds 
oftener  and  further  than  any  other  President  the 
country  has  had.  The  BIG  STICK  has  indeed  "trav 
elled  far"  in  its  inroads  upon  the  Constitution. 

The  favorite  method  inaugurated  by  the  rule  of  the 
BIG  STICK  is  to  rule  by  means  of  commissions  and 
bureaus,  which  are  to  act  "within  the  discretion  of  the 
President."  And  so  we  have  a  Panama  Commission 
appointed  by  the  President,  which  is  administering 
affairs  on  the  Isthmus,  and  what  the  Commission  is 
not  empowered  to  do,  the  President  is  supplying  by 
Executive  order.  Courts  are  created,  and  judges  ap 
pointed  by  Executive  order,  and  Congress  has  nothing 
to  say  or  to  do  about  any  of  it,  except  to  appropriate 
the  money  as  the  President  calls  for  it. 

We  have  also  a  Philippine  Commission,  which  oper 
ates  the  machinery  of  government  for  the  Filipinos, 
and  is  answerable  to  no  one  but  the  President.  The 
Philippine  Courts  are  also  established  by  Executive 
order,  and  the  judicial  decisions  are  in  entire  accord 
with  the  Roosevelt  "policies."  When  the  head  of  the 
Insular  Office  was  asked:  "Who  advised  Mr.  Roose 
velt  that  the  title  to  the  friar  lands  was  vested  in  the 
Pope?"  he  replied,  "It  was  so  decided  by  the  Philip 
pine  Court." 

"And  who  established  the  authority  of  the  Philip 
pine  court?"  and  the  answer  was,  "President  Roose 
velt."  Ah !  the  service  was  mutual. 

When  President  Roosevelt  sent  Secretary  Taft  on 
his  last  visit  of  inspection  to  the  Islands,  the  amiable 
Secretary  brought  back  a  most  optimistic  report.  But 
if  everything  isn't  "lovely,  and  the  goose  hanging 
high"  in  the  Philippines,  it  is  hanging  too  far  away 
to  disturb  the  reflections  of  the  average  American  citi 
zen. 


I7O  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

So  many  commissions  and  bureaus  have  been  cre 
ated  whose  members  are  appointed  by  the  President, 
and  act  "within  his  discretion,"  that  the  fear  has  been 
expressed  in  some  quarters,  that  all  the  functions  of 
Congress  are  being  gradually  absorbed  by  the  Execu 
tive,  and  pretty  soon,  if  the  present  trend  continues, 
Congress  will  be  in  the  forlorn  position  of  nothing  to 
do  but  sigh — like  Othello — over  its  vanished  occupa 
tion!  Many  of  these  commissions  are  given  super 
vision  of  work  which  the  standing  committees  of  Con 
gress  are  appointed  to  do. 

For  instance,  Congress  has  a  committee  on  Rivers 
and  Harbors,  which  is  supposed  to  look  after  all 
needed  improvements  in  inland  waterways  and  which, 
having  a  most  efficient  membership,  has  very  thor 
oughly  fulfilled  the  purpose  of  its  appointment.  But 
the  Strenuous  President  decided  that  we  needed  also 
an  "Inland  Waterways  Commission" ;  and  so  he  ap 
pointed  one,  by  authority  of  the  BIG  STICK,  and 
without  the  consent  of  Congress  which  of  course  must 
appropriate  the  money  to  pay  the  Commission,  if  it  is 
paid.  The  last  advices  from  the  "Inland  Waterways 
Commission,"  stated  that  Congress  had  not  come  up 
with  the  requisite  appropriation,  but  that  the  BIG 
STICK  had  announced  to  the  "congress  of  Govern 
ors"  assembled  at  the  White  House, — "if  Congress 
did  not  find  a  way  pretty  soon  to  perpetuate  the  In 
land  Waterways  Commission,  that  he  would!" 

Whereupon  Senator  Teller  remarked  in  his  quiet, 
plaintive  fashion: 

"If  the  President  can  find  a  way  to  maintain  this 
commission  without  any  appropriation  from  Congress, 
it  may  be  economy  to  let  him  do  it !" 

The  subjects  calling  for  BIG  STICK  regulation 
range  from  the  highest  to  the  most  trivial  affairs  of 
the  nation.  But  whether  it  is  delivering  an  ultimatum 
and  timely  warning  to  a  foreign  power— little  ones, 


ROOSEVELT: AN  FACT  AND  FABLE  171 

that  is,  like  the  Latin-American  Republics, — or  caus 
ing  the  arrest  and  suspension  of  a  steamboat  pilot  for 
the  daring  impertinence  of  running  his  boat  in  such 
manner  as  to  outdistance  the  one  carrying  the  Presi 
dential  person,  there  is  the  same  complacent  intima 
tion  of  "the  divine  right"  of  this  Rooseveltian  sceptre. 
The  days  of  the  rule  of  the  BIG  STICK  are  now 
numbered.  But  still  reaching  after  "the  good,  the 
beautiful,  and  the  true,"  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  recently 
suggested  that  a  "commission  to  look  after  sanitary 
conditions  in  rural  homes,  particularly  in  the  South," 
is  one  of  the  urgent  needs  of  the  times,  but  the  sug 
gestion  doesn't  appear  to  have  evoked  any  very  great 
enthusiasm.  If  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  any  future  de 
signs  on  the  colored  vote,  either  for  himself  or  for 
others,  some  one  who  is  interested  in  him,  should  give 
him  the  friendly  tip,  that  a  strenuous  enforcement  of 
sanitary  laws  upon  the  colored  population  of  the 
South  would  likely  cause  as  great  a  hostile  commotion 
as  Brownsville! 


172        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 


CHAPTER   XIV. 


So  much  has  been  said  in  the  press,  in  Congress, 
and  in  the  boarding-houses  of  the  Roosevelt  "policies," 
and  so  insistent  and  clamorous  has  been  the  claim  of 
the  Strenuous  one  himself  that  he  had  "policies,"  that 
the  average  American  comprehends  in  some  vague 
general  way,  that  T.  R.  either  has  better  policies  than 
anybody  else  in  the  policy  business,  or  more  of  'em, — 
or  probably  both — the  average  American  is  not  quite 
clear.  But  if  you  ask  this  average  American — with 
this  well-defined  conviction  about  the  Roosevelt  poli 
cies — what  are  these  policies? — nine  chances  to  one, 
he  will  be  thrown  into  stammering  confusion,  and 
cannot  even  hazard  an  intelligent  guess. 

Sympathy  has  always  gone  to  the  U.  S.  Senator 
who,  when  accused  of  complicity  in  "the  rich  men's 
conspiracy"  to  defeat  the  only  policies  of  the  only 
T.  R.,  stoutly  protested  his  innocence,  and  urged  in 
defense,  that  he  was  an  ardent  admirer  of  Mr.  Roose 
velt,  and  that  he  had  always  voted  for  the  "Policies," 
whenever  he  could  find  out  what  they  were ! 

The  best  known  writer  on  public  men  and  political 
subjects  in  Washington,  was  asked  by  a  bewildered  on 
looker,  as  to  the  "Policies,"  and  he  replied:  "Mr. 
Roosevelt  has  been  on  both  sides  of  the  tariff,  on  both 
sides  of  the  Negro  question,  on  both  sides  of  the 
Octopus  chase,  and  on  both  sides  of  Civil-Service 
Reform." 

No  wonder  that  poor  U.  S.  Senator  was  confused  J 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  173 

William  Jennings  Bryan, — ever  more  charitable  in 
his  judgment  of  Roosevelt,  than  Roosevelt  has  ever 
been  in  his  judgment  of  Bryan — once  attempted  a 
formal  classification  of  the  Roosevelt  policies,  as  fol 
lows: 

"Democratic  doctrines  advocated  by  Roosevelt: 
"I.  Railroad  Regulation.     II.  Enforcement  of  Anti 
trust  law.     III.  The  Income  tax.     IV.  Arbitration  in 
Labor  disputes. 

"Democratic  doctrines  Roosevelt  has  not  endorsed: 
I.  Tariff  Reform.  II.  Election  of  U.  S.  senators  by 
popular  vote.  III.  Ultimate  Independence  for  the 
Filipinos.  IV.  Restraint  of  government  by  Injunc 
tion.  (This  was  before  the  date  of  the  Chicago  Anti- 
injunction  plank.) 

" [/n-Democratic  doctrines  of  Roosevelt: 
"I.   National  Incorporation  of  railroads  and  other 
interstate  corporations.     II.  Ship  subsidy.     III.  Asset 
Currency.    IV.  Militarism." 

With  this  categorical  outline  as  a  lamp  to  our  feet, 
we  will  travel  apace  into  the  realm  of  history  and 
official  record,  to  see  what  we  can  discover  about  the 
famous  "POLICIES." 

Early  in  1906,  when  Mr.  Roosevelt  gave  forth  his 
strenuous  "Yi,  yi,  yip!  siss-boom!"  mandate  to  Con 
gress  to  "regulate  the  railroad  rates,"  it  is  related  that 
the  Hon.  Nelson  Aldrich  from  Rhode  Island — other 
wise  known  unofficially  as  "the  Boss  of  the  Senate" — 
mistook  it  for  the  "college  yell  of  a  Correspondence 
School  of  Economics" ;  but  on  becoming  convinced 
that  it  proceeded  from  the  White  House,  the  Boss  sat 
up  and  made  extensive  observations.  Faithfully  in 
the  weeks  that  followed,  did  this  conscientious  servant 
of  the  "Interests"  strive  to  thwart  this  foolish  "regu 
lating"  Act,  by  the  eccentric,  erratic,  and  chaotic  Pres 
ident  (who  was  unfortunately  attached  to  the  Boss's 
own  party  at  this  time),  and  his  absurd  Democratic 


ROOSEVELIIAN    FACT   AND    FABLE 

following.  But  by  and  by,  this  pitiful  Democratic 
minority  became  not  so  pitiful  as  was  its  wont.  Not 
attempting  to  explain,  even  to  itself,  why  the  strenuous 
Republican  President  had  chosen  to  champion  a  meas 
ure  taken  bodily  from  the  Democratic  platform — and 
about  which  the  platform  on  which  he  was  elected, 
had  been  ominously  silent,  this  hard-working  and  as 
tute  Democratic  minority,  being  able  to  decipher  a 
good  thing  when  it  was  stuck  under  its  legislative  nose, 
kept  steadily  on  the  railroad-rate  job,  until  it  was  as 
certained  that  the  President  had  secured  enough 
pledged  votes  on  the  Republican  side  of  the  Senate, 
which  added  to  the  entire  Democratic  contingent — 
could  carry  the  bill  on  its  final  passage.  This  bill,  as 
agreed  upon  between  the  President  and  his  Democratic 
allies,  would  empower  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com 
mission  to  fix  the  shipping  rates  of  common  carriers 
at  a  reasonable  figure,  where  there  was  complaint  of 
exorbitant  charge  by  the  carrier;  with  the  narrowest 
possible  opportunity  for  the  courts  to  review  and  over 
turn  the  Commission's  findings.  This  was  the  sort  of 
railroad-rate  bill  the  Democrats  favored,  and  this  was 
the  sort  the  President  favored,  and  would  support  with 
his  pledged  Republican  votes, — at  least  this  was  the 
message  Chandler  and  Moody  brought  from  him  to 
the  Democratic  Senators  who  were  engineering  the 
bill. 

But  this  sort  of  a  railroad-rate  bill  was  by  no  means 
pleasing  to  the  Hon.  Nelson  Aldrich  of  Rhode  Is 
land, — the  aforesaid  Senate-Boss.  Accounts  vary  as 
to  the  subsequent  proceedings,  in  some  minor  details. 
Some  assert,  that  when  everything  was  in  readiness 
for  a  final  vote  on  the  rate  bill  carrying  a  narrow  court 
review,  in  that  merry  month  of  May,  1906;  when  all 
was  peace  and  quietness  along  the  Potomac,  the  "big 
stick"  and  the  "pitchfork"  having  been  both  wreathed 
in  peach-blossoms  and  tied  together  with  red-white- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  175 

and-blue  ribbons  for  the  occasion, — suddenly  the  wily 
Senate  Boss  arose  and  beckoned  to  Senator  Allison  of 
Iowa ;  and  that  between  them  they  fixed  up  the  scheme 
which  caused  the  President's  sudden  change  of  front, 
and  sent  the  bolt  out  of  the  clear  blue  into  the  Demo 
cratic  camp,  causing  angry  turmoil  where  gladness 
and  harmony  had  reigned.  Others  say  that  Senator 
Allison  was  sick  abed  at  the  time  the  "Amendment" 
bearing  his  name  was  formulated  and  laid  before  the 
President — and  knew  nothing  about  it  until  it  was  all 
over. 

All  agree  that  the  adroit  Senator  from  Rhode  Is 
land  carried  the  so-called  "Allison  Amendment" — for 
years  the  Boss  had  been  modestly  launching  his 
choicest  measures  under  other  Senators'  names — to  the 
White  House,  and  in  presenting  it,  took  occasion  to 
whisper,  lago-like,  into  the  Executive  ear:  "Do  you 
realize  that  you  are  playing  into  the  hands  of  Tillman 
and  Bailey,  who  are  preparing  to  cut  the  throat  of  the 
Republican  Party?  And  that  they  are  simply  making 
a  tool  and  an  object  of  ridicule  of  you?" 

The  Boss  was  better  acquainted  with  the  temper  of 
the  "tool"  than  were  the  wicked,  designing  Democrats. 
To  "cut  the  throat  of  the  Republican  Party"  might 
have  been  condoned,  if  T.  Roosevelt  were  to  be  glori 
fied  over  the  remains ;  but  that  he  should  appear  in  the 
unflattering  light  of  a  "tool"  and  an  "object  of  ridi 
cule"  was  not  to  be  endured  for  a  moment !  The  Boss 
— who  had  come  nearer  to  being  unhorsed  than  ever 
before  in  his  victorious  career — was  once  more  in  the 
ascendant. 

It  was  all  up  with  the  "narrow  court-review."  The 
"Allison  Amendment"  which  provided  for  a  very 
broad  court-review,  was  promptly  espoused  by  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  and  in  this  emasculated  form,  the  railroad- 
rate  regulation — which  had  promised  so  gloriously  for 


176  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE 

the  cause  of  the  shippers  against  the  railroad  "octo 
pus" — finally  passed  both  Houses  and  became  the  law. 

Tillman  uttered  his  scornful  charge  of  "bad  faith" 
against  the  President,  in  the  open  court  of  the  Senate, 
— and  he  adduced  Senator  Chandler's  statement  in 
proof  of  the  Rooseveltian  perfidy.  Senator  Lodge, 
who  wears  always  a  Roosevelt  chip  on  his  shoulder, 
rushed  out  to  the  telephone,  and  obtaining  the  White 
House  connection,  told  His  Strenuous  Majesty  what 
dreadful  things  Tillman  was  uttering  on  the  floor  of 
the  Senate  at  that  very  moment.  Soon  Lodge  was 
back  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  armed  with  the  Executive 
denial,  and  interrupted  Mr.  Tillman's  oratorical  flow 
long  enough  to  tell  him,  with  his  most  emphatic,  un 
compromising  manner,  and  in  his  best  Boston  gram 
mar,  that  the  things  he  was  attributing  to  the  Presi 
dent  upon  the  authority  of  Senator  Chandler,  were 
absolutely  and  unqualifiedly  -false, — upon  the  Presi 
dent's  own  avowal — now  then !"  It  appears  that  even 
Tillman  was  staggered  by  the  force  of  this  presidential 
denial,  for  he  dropped  into  silence  for  the  time. 

Two  days  later,  however,  Tillman  returned  to  the 
charge,  this  time  armed  with  Senator  Chandler's 
written  and  certified  statement  as  to  what  transpired 
between  the  President  and  himself  in  the  railroad  rate 
negotiation.  Chandler  retracted  nothing  of  his  previ 
ous  statement,  but  reaffirmed  and  added  to ;  and  a 
note  from  Loeb  to  Senator  Chandler  was  introduced 
as  refuting  evidence  of  the  President's  disingenuous 
showing  that  Tillman  had  approached  him  with  a  re 
quest  for  negotiations. 

Roosevelt  does  not  evince  his  usual  shrewdness  in 
this.  It  was  all  very  well  to  charge  Harriman  with 
making  advances  to  the  White  House  throne,  but  it 
was  too  great  a  straining  of  public  credulity  in  the  case 
of  Tillman.  It  may  well  be  doubted,  if  Lodge  himself 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  177 

believed  that  Senator  Tillman  would  make  an  over 
ture  of  any  kind  to  President  Roosevelt. 

In  one  of  the  most  dramatic  and  impressive  scenes 
ever  enacted  in  the  Senate,  Tillman,  with  unprece 
dented  calmness,  and  with  the  dignity  and  solemnity  of 
a  judge  passing  sentence,  arraigned  President  Roose 
velt  before  the  "facts  and  the  evidence,"  for  breaking 
faith  with  his  Democratic  allies,  without  cause  and 
without  warning;  and  for  surrendering  the  people's 
cause  to  the  railroad  "interests."  "I  do  not  say,"  de 
clared  the  Pitchfork  Senator  in  his  most  judicial  tone, 
"that  the  President  was  bound  not  to  change  his  mind ; 
but  I  do  say,  that,  having  come  to  a  definite  and  posi 
tive  agreement  with  us  through  his  own  accredited 
agents,  he  was  bound  to  give  notice  of  such  change; 
and  to  claim  otherwise, — as  Attorney-General  Moody 
is  trying  to  do — is  to  assert  that  the  ordinary  code  of 
honor  which  obtains  among  gentlemen, — is  not  bind 
ing  upon  the  President  and  his  Cabinet." 

Senator  Bailey,  rather  more  charitable  than  Till 
man,  and  probably  with  a  more  accurate  discernment 
of  the  situation,  was  inclined  to  think  the  President 
had  merely  "surrendered"  to  the  Boss;  and  he  ironi 
cally  congratulated  "the  Senator  from  Rhode  Island 
on  having  resumed  control  of  the  Republican  Party"; 
at  the  same  time  he  declared :  "Let  us  hear  no  more 
of  this  man-of-iron  in  the  White  House.  He  has 
shown  himself  in  this,  a  man-of-clay,  and  very  ordi 
nary  clay  at  that !" 

Meantime  Mr.  Roosevelt,  finding  himself  in  a  most 
awkward  position  before  the  public,  had  recourse  to 
his  usual  panacea.  He  assembled  his  faithful 
"cuckoo"  flock  to  the  White  House,  and  "gave  out"  a 
statement  for  the  press:  All  legislation  is  based  upon 
compromise,  as  they  knew;  the  President  could  not 
force  his  will  upon  Congress;  he  must  take  what  he 
could  get,  and  do  the  best  he  could.  The  Allison  bill, 


1/8  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

being  the  last  compromise  submitted,  seemed  to  em 
body  about  all  in  the  way  of  rate  regulation  that  could 
be  obtained  at  present;  and  so  the  President  had  de 
cided  to  recommend  that  to  Congress,  as  the  best  they 
could  do ! 

The  astonished  "cuckoos"  listened  in  silence — being 
well-trained  birds — tho'  most  of  them  had  received 
previous  and  authoritative  information,  that  the  Presi 
dent  had  corraled  and  counted  enough  Republican 
votes  in  the  Senate  to  pass — with  the  help  of  the  Dem 
ocrats — the  form  of  bill  (with  the  "narrow  court-re 
view")  which  he  had  at  first  declared  he  would  sup 
port.  But  the  first  duty  of  a  presidential  cuckoo  is 
like  that  of  "the  famous  Six  Hundred," — "theirs 
not  to  reason  why;  theirs,  but  to  do  or  die!"  And  so 
they  did,  finding  it  preferable  to  death  or  dismissal. 
And  now,  oh  faithful  cuckoo-brood,  bend  attentive  ear 
to  another  interesting  bit  of  information  with  which 
your  presidential  master  would  regale  the  public  mind, 
and  give  it  something  else  to  think  about  besides  his 
own  unhappy  predicament  in  the  railroad-rate  legisla 
tion.  He  has  caught  from  far-off  Texas  the  pre 
monitory  rumblings  of  Mr.  Bailey's  factional  fight  in 
his  own  State;  he  has  been  advised  that  Mr.  Bailey's 
seemingly  frank  and  earnest  advovacy  of  railroad-rate 
regulation  is  only  a  pose, — the  Texas  Senator  being  in 
fact  in  direct  collusion  with  the  "octopus" ;  he  has 
heard  also  that  Tillman  distrusts  Bailey;  he  (the  Presi 
dent)  cannot  of  course  compromise  his  own  position, 
by  any  unholy  alliance  with  the  suspected  Texas  Sen 
ator,  and  so — (by  way  of  demonstrating  his  absolute 
incorruptibility  before  all  the  people) — he  accepts  a 
measure  framed  by  Senator  Aldrich,  whose  patriotic 
devotion  to  the  people's  cause,  is  always  above  re 
proach  ! 

And  so  next  day,  the  country  was  warned — through 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  1/9 

the  obedient  publicity  hosts — to  have  a  care,  and  keep 
an  eye  upon  Senator  Bailey ! 

Then  followed  Bailey's  memorable  angry  defence 
in  the  Senate,  wherein  he  freely  applied  the  Ananias 
decoration  to  the  President  or  to  the  newspaper  hosts, 
— he  didn't  care  which — whoever  was  most  entitled  to 
wear  it.  Tillman  sustained  Bailey,  remarking  in  his 
characteristic  way,  "Here  seems  to  be  another  muck 
rake,  with  its  handle  in  the  White  House." 

But  consider  for  a  moment,  if  you  please,  gentle 
reader,  this  spectacle  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States,  assailing — in  the  presence  of  an  irresponsible 
newspaper  clique — the  honor  of  a  U.  S.  Senator,  in 
anticipation  of  a  charge  not  yet  brought  against  it,  and 
when  it  was,  clearly  a  matter  for  the  State  of  Texas 
to  deal  with,  and  decide. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Texas  later  decided  it, — decided 
it  twice,  we  believe,  in  Senator  Bailey's  favor.  But 
even  had  the  verdict  been  adverse,  and  Mr.  Bailey  con 
victed  of  too  great  friendliness  with  the  "Interests" — 
as  was  charged — was  it  fitting,  or  seemly,  think  you, 
that  the  man  who  had  shielded  Elihu  Root,  Paul  Mor 
ton,  and  Francis  B.  Loomis, — to  say  nothing  of  his 
own  shady  connection  with  Harriman  and  the  Insur 
ance  Companies,  should  cast  the  first  stone  at  him? 
The  malicious  cunning,  the  ineffable  meanness,  and 
the  Pecksniffian  pharisaism  of  this  covert  thrust  at  the 
Texas  Senator,  put  it  outside  the  pale  of  anything 
presidential  which  this  country  had  ever  before  wit 
nessed,  and  let  us  hope  that  it  will  continue  sui  generis. 

This  is  a  faithful  report  of  the  way  in  which  Mr. 
Roosevelt  "advocated"  the  Democratic  doctrine  of 
railroad-rate  regulation,  and  if  you  think  it  lacks  offi 
cial  confirmation,  kindly  consult  the  Congressional 
Records  and  the  Washington  newspaper  files  of  that 
period,  March,  April  and  May,  1906. 

If  this  Rate  Bill  has  secured  any  great  practical 


I  So  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

benefits  to  the  toiling  masses,  few  persons  are  so  well 
posted  as  to  be  able  to  put  a  finger  on  them,  off-hand. 
It  was  a  very  large  legislative  mountain,  which  labored 
strenuously  and  resonantly  for  many  months,  and  in 
the  end,  a  very  small  legislative  mouse  came  forth; 
yet  small  as  it  is,  it  is  the  only  reform  measure  which 
can  hold  a  brief  for  Roosevelt  in  the  day  of  his  trial. 
Let  him  have  the  full  measure  of  credit,  therefore,  for 
all  there  is  in  it. 

And  now  let  us  take  a  peep  at  his  Anti-trust  record, 
of  which  there  has  been  such  noisy  exploitation.  If 
you  have  taken  your  impression  of  Rooseveltian 
"trust-busting"  from  the  newspapers,  and  the  special 
claquers  who  are  retained  to  fill  magazine  space  for 
the  glorification  of  Roosevelt,  you  probably  think  that 
organized  wealth  and  large  industrial  combines — 
"operating  in  restraint  of  trade" — have  never  had  such 
an  uncompromising  foe  and  vigorous  prosecutor  in 
this  country,  as  the  present  Strenuous  occupant  of  the 
White  House.  But  if  you  are  asked  the  specific  ques 
tion, — which  trusts  has  he  busted? — you  will  probably 
be  puzzled  for  a  reply.  And  if  you  want  an  exact 
and  succinct  statement  of  what  has  been  actually  done, 
or  of  what  has  been  attempted  by  the  Roosevelt  Ad- 
"ministration,  in  the  direction  of  curbing  the  trusts,  you 
may  find  it  in  a  neat  little  pamphlet  issued  by  the  De 
partment  of  Justice,  containing  a  complete  list  of  all 
"civil  and  criminal  cases  instituted  by  the  United 
States  under  the  Sherman  Anti-Trust  law  of  1890  and 
the  Act  to  Regulate  Commerce  (of  1887)  as  Amended, 
including  the  Elkins  Act"  (1903).  This  record  of 
anti-trust  prosecution  by  the  Government  covers  four 
Administrations, — Harrison's,  Cleveland's  second 
term,  McKinley's,  and  Roosevelt's  down  to  Dec.  2, 
1907,  and  Roosevelt's  portion,  briefly  condensed,  is  as 
follows:  Actions  of  every  kind  under  the  Sherman 
law,  brought  by  the  Roosevelt  Administration,  are  34 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT  AND   FABLE  l8l 

in  number,  comprising  16  bills  in  equity,  and  18  crim 
inal  indictments.  Of  these  34  cases,  only  8  are  of  the 
major  class,  all  the  others  being  of  minor  importance, 
and  just  such  cases  as  have  been  instituted  in  the 
courts  every  year  since  the  law  was  enacted,  under 
Democratic  and  Republican  administrations  alike.  Of 
these  8  big  cases,  only  three  have  been  won  by  the 
Government,  as  compared  with  six  important  cases 
won  by  the  Government  in  the  eight  years  preceding 
Roosevelt. 

Under  the  Act  to  Regulate  Commerce  (approved 
1887),  48  suits  were  instituted  by  Harrison's  Admin 
istration,  102  cases  prosecuted  under  Cleveland's  sec 
ond  Administration,  15  under  McKinley's,  and  21 
under  Roosevelt. 

Most  of  the  actions  aimed  at  "predatory  wealth"  by 
the  Roosevelt  Administration,  have  been  brought  un 
der  the  Elkins  Rebate  law  (approved  1903)  which  his 
predecessors  in  office  did  not  have,  tho'  they  repeatedly 
won  rebate  cases  under  the  old  statute  to  regulate 
commerce.  The  cases,  both  civil  and  criminal,  insti 
tuted  under  the  Elkins  Act,  which  are  accredited  to 
Mr.  Roosevelt's  Administration,  are  129,  yet  it  may 
be  questioned,  if  in  all  the  129,  there  was  one  so 
flagrant  as  that  of  the  Santa  Fe  Railway  Company, 
which  implicated  his  dear  friend  and  cabineteer,  Paul 
Morton,  and  was  therefore  quietly  quashed. 

Many  of  the  cases  instituted  under  the  Roosevelt 
regime  have  been  of  small  importance,  and  of  the 
three  big  cases  prosecuted  and  won  under  the  Sherman 
law,  namely,  U.  S.  vs.  Northern  Securities  Co. ;  U.  S. 
vs.  Swift  &  Co.  (Beef  Trust) ;  and  U.  S.  vs.  General 
Paper  Co.  (Paper  Trust),  what  has  been  the  practical 
outcome?  An  injunction  was  granted  against  the 
Paper  Company,  and  the  combination  was  ordered 
dissolved;  yet  a  large  delegation,  representing  the 
largest  consumers  of  white  print  paper  in  the  country, 


1 82       ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

called  on  President  Roosevelt  in  November,  1907,  to 
inform  him  the  decree  had  been  wholly  ineffective,  and 
that  the  Paper  Trust  still  controls  prices.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  one  of  the  things  the  last  Congress 
was  most  urgently  importuned  to  do,  was  to  take  the 
duty  off  wood-pulp  and  print  paper,  in  order  to  afford 
some  relief  from  the  exorbitant  prices  of  the  Paper 
Trust.  The  case  against  the  packers  was  equally  dis 
appointing.  An  attempt  to  bring  criminal  action 
against  the  officers  of  the  Beef  Trust,  ended  in  failure, 
and  the  housewives  of  the  country  can  probably  testify 
as  to  the  effect  of  the  Government's  victory  in  lower 
ing  the  price  of  beef.  Of  the  Northern  Securities 
merger,  Bennett  in  his  "Roosevelt  and  the  Republic" 
says :  "The  merger  has  been  a  hard  fact  in  the  North 
west  since  those  days  in  1901,  when  the  Hill-Morgan 
interests  gained  control  of  the  Northern  Pacific  and 
the  Burlington  railways.  It  was  as  hard  a  fact  after 
the  Government  victory  as  before.  Now  it  is  as  hard 
a  fact  as  it  was  before  the  Government  brought  its 
suit.  ...  As  to  results,  the  rose  is  just  as  sweet  by 
any  other  name,  the  merger  just  as  profitable  by  any 
other  title  or  no  title  at  all,  as  by  the  title  of  the 
'Northern  Securities  Company/  '' 

Thus  it  will  appear,  that  when  we  come  to  sum  up 
the  practical  results  of  the  Roosevelt  "trust-busting," 
we  haven't  much  to  the  good. 

Nor  has  he  consistently  adhered  to  the  "trust-bust 
ing"  theory, — not  in  several  conspicuous  and  notable 
instances.  These  are  sufficient  to  indicate  pretty 
clearly,  that  whenever  trust  prosecution  was  going  to 
involve  any  of  Mr.  Roosevelt's  "dear  friends,"  or  hin 
der  his  personal  ambitions,  the  Roosevelt  roaring-lion 
in  the  path  of  the  "wicked"  trust  became  suddenly  a 
timid  sheep.  E.  H.  Harriman  was  as  much  of  a  "rich 
malefactor"  in  1904,  when  Roosevelt  sought  his  aid, 
and  affectionately  put  him  in  the  same  "practical" 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE       183 

class  with  himself,  as  he  was  in  1907,  when  the  Strenu 
ous  "trust-buster"  almost  threw  the  State  of  Illinois 
into  the  Chicago  River  in  his  efforts  to  "get  at"  the 
wicked  Harriman. 

Yet  the  only  observable  difference  (to  a  dispassion 
ate  on-looker)  between  the  "dear  Harriman"  of  1904 
and  the  "undesirable  citizen"  of  1907,  is  that  in  the  one 
case  he  was  a  compliant  campaign  contributor,  and  in 
the  other  he  had  refused  to  contribute  to  Republican 
resources  in  1906,  and  (a  much  greater  offence)  had 
said  some  unflattering  things  about  Roosevelt  in  the 
same  connection. 

Again,  when  the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation  wanted  to 
absorb  the  Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  Co.  in  the  winter 
of  1907,  its  president,  Mr.  Gary,  came  to  Washington, 
and  apprised  Mr.  Roosevelt  of  his  "octopus"  inten 
tion  ;  at  the  same  time  asking  immunity  from  the  Sher 
man  anti-trust  law,  and  darkly  hinting  that  if  such 
immunity  were  not  granted,  it  would  result  very  dis 
astrously  for  the  "business  interests"  of  the  country, 
and  precipitate  a  worse  panic  than  the  one  already  on. 

The  newspaper  gossip  of  Washington  averred  that 
the  conference  between  the  Steel-Trust  magnate  and 
the  Presidential  octopus-chaser,  lasted  all  night,  but 
at  daybreak,  Mr.  Gary  came  away  smiling  and  confi 
dent. 

The  story  of  the  all-night  White  House  seance  may 
be  an  invention,  but  it  is  no  invention  that  the  Steel 
Trust  did  absorb  the  Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  Co., 
and  you  may  search  the  records  of  the  Attorney-Gen 
eral's  Office  in  vain  for  any  suit  instituted  by  the  Gov 
ernment  against  the  Steel  Trust  in  consequence.  The 
most  recent  instance  in  which  Mr.  Roosevelt  stayed 
his  prosecuting  hand  against  monopolistic  greed,  was 
the  case  of  the  New  Haven  Railway  merger  last  May 
(1908).  Investigations  instituted  by  the  Department 
of  Justice  several  months  previous,  brought  out  the 


184  ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

fact  that  this  Railway  Company  had  swallowed  up  all 
competing  lines,  and  monopolized  about  all  the  trans 
portation  facilities  in  three  States. 

The  rumor  getting  abroad  that  the  merger  was  liable 
to  prosecution  by  the  Government,  brought  several 
vice-presidents  of  the  Company  to  Washington  to  con 
fer  with  President  Roosevelt.  These  were  given  to 
understand — so  they  said — that  no  action  would  be 
taken  against  the  Company,  for  the  present  at  least, 
and  on  no  account,  without  due  notification.  Mean 
time  the  government  attorneys,  under  the  direction  of 
Attorney-General  Bonaparte,  prepared  an  indictment 
of  the  New  Haven  Co.  for  gross  violation  of  the  Sher 
man  Anti-trust  law.  News  of  this  brought  Vice-presi 
dent  Tymothy  E.  Byrnes  promptly  to  a  White  House 
conference,  on  Thursday,  May  21,  and  when  it  ended, 
Mr.  Byrnes  gave  out  the  statement,  that  he  had  no 
fear  of  government  prosecution  for  his  Company. 

When  therefore  suit  was  filed  against  the  New 
Haven  merger  next  day  (May  22)  in  Boston  in  the 
U.  S.  Circuit  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachu 
setts,  probably  Mr.  Byrnes  was  the  most  surprised 
man  in  the  country — except  Mr.  Roosevelt.  The  lat 
ter  immediately  telephoned  to  the  Attorney-General's 
office  a  peremptory  order  to  "kill  the  news"  of  the 
suit,  and  stop  the  proceedings.  But  the  afternoon  pa 
pers  had  already  published  the  item,  and  when  in  the 
Cabinet  meeting  next  morning,  the  President  angrily 
demanded  an  explanation  of  Mr.  Bonaparte,  the  Attor 
ney-General,  greatly  to  his  credit,  met  the  issue 
squarely.  He  had  supposed  it  to  be  the  policy  of  this 
Administration  to  punish  offenders  against  the  Anti 
trust  law.  The  New  Haven  Railway  Company  had 
come  within  the  exercise  of  that  law,  upon  the  find 
ings  of  the  Department.  And  furthermore, — his  fight 
ing  blood  stirred  evidently  by  the  flourish  of  the  Big 
Stick — the  President  must  understand,  that  the  peti- 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE       185 

tion  filed  in  the  Boston  Court  against  the  New  Haven 
Railway  Company  would  stand,  or  he,  the  Attorney- 
General  who  had  ordered  the  petition,  would  tender 
his  resignation  from  the  Cabinet. 

This  ultimatum  from  the  Attorney-General  had  the 
effect  of  cooling  the  presidential  ire  and  retiring  the 
Big  Stick  from  the  controversy. 

A  report  of  the  Cabinet  clash  which  appeared  in  the 
newspapers  was  promptly  rebuked — as  he  has  rebuked 
so  many  things — with  an  Executive  denial.  Every 
body  was  too  polite  of  course  to  continue  the  subject, 
but  the  man  who  had  reported  the  incident,  one  of  the 
most  accurate,  and  conservative  newspaper  men  of 
Washington,  assured  the  writer  that  the  facts  are  as 
above  related. 

So  much  for  the  Roosevelt  enforcement  of  anti 
trust  laws.  Of  his  championship  of  the  income  tax, — 
ascribed  to  him  by  Mr.  Bryan,  we  have  heard  but  lit 
tle;  and  certainly  nothing  has  been  accomplished  in 
this  direction  by  anybody,  if  we  except  the  tax  on  the 
incomes  of  the  "criminal  rich"  levied  every  four  years 
for  the  purpose  of  electing  to  office  the  men  who  make 
it  possible  for  them  to  continue  their  "crimes." 

Mr.  Roosevelt  was  the  beneficiary  of  a  very  large 
"income-tax"  of  this  sort  four  years  ago. 

As  to  arbitration  in  labor  disputes,  there  is  the  Coal 
Strike  Commission  of  some  years  ago,  on  the  credit 
side  of  the  Roosevelt  balance  sheet;  for  this,  being 
one  of  his  earliest  presidential  acts,  is  also  probably 
the  best.  Longer  lease  of  power  has  not  improved 
the  Roosevelt  "policies,"  nor  sweetened  the  Roose- 
veltian  spirit.  On  the  other  side  of  the  balance  sheet 
is  his  sending  the  United  States  troops  to  Goldfield, 
Neveda,  to  overawe  and  crush  the  miners  who  had  re 
fused  to  accept  cashier's  checks  in  payment  for  their 
wages,  without  some  form  of  guaranty  from  the  mine 
owners.  The  report  of  the  commission  which  the 


1 86  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

President  later  sent  to  investigate  the  conditions, 
proved  the  sending  of  the  troops  to  Goldfield  to  have 
been  wholly  unnecessary,  and  unwarranted  by  law.  It 
was  very  characteristic  of  Roosevelt,  to  send  the 
troops  first,  and  the  investigating  commission  after 
wards,  though  a  reversal  of  the  program  might  have 
saved  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  needless  irritation  to 
the  miners. 

True,  the  troops  were  sent  at  the  request  of  the 
Governor  of  the  State,  but  as  afterwards  transpired, 
this  request  had  been  obtained  from  the  Governor 
while  in  a  compliant  mood  superinduced  by  convivial 
banqueting,  provided  by  the  mine  owners,  among 
whom  was  the  delectable  Simon  Guggenheim  of  Col 
orado,  the  plethoric  gentleman  who  "had  the  price," 
and  didn't  mind  giving  it  for  a  seat  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  nor  boasting  about  it  afterwards. 

Of  the  "un-Democratic"  policies  attributed  to 
Roosevelt,  namely,  national  incorporations  of  rail 
roads  (there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the 
authorship  of  this  "policy"),  asset  currency,  ship- 
subsidy,  and  militarism,  not  much  need  be  said,  except 
that  any  man  espousing  them,  may  be  allowed  all  the 
glory  he  can  extract  from  the  espousal. 

The  last  mentioned, — militarism,  is  probably  the 
most  genuine  and  truly  representative  Rooseveltian 
"policy."  He  would  like  to  be  a  "war  lord,"  tho'  at 
present  his  war  record  is  neither  very  long  nor  very 
glorious.  But  if  allowed  to  work  his  own  sweet  will 
in  this  nation,  he  would  maintain  a  large  standing- 
army,  and  a  costly,  spectacular  fleet. 

It  is  worthy  of  note,  that  the  "policy"  which  is  most 
essentially  his  own,  which  most  accurately  reflects  his 
ruling  passion,  is  at  the  same  time  the  most  dangerous 
and  destructive  one  for  this  Republic. 

If  we  wish  to  see  what  militarism  of  the  Roose- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE  1 87 

vcltian  type  does  for  a  people,  we  need  only  look  across 
the  sea  to  France — the  puppet  nation. 

Roosevelt  asked  the  Congress  just  past  for  four 
additional  battleships,  and  inspired  a  battle  royal  for 
them  upon  the  part  of  the  more  ardent  and  martial 
spirits  in  Congress.  But  older  and  wiser  counsel  pre 
vailed,  and  Congress  appropriated  money  for  two  new 
battleships. 

Roosevelt  has  sent  more  messages  to  Congress — 
regular,  special  and  "extra" — than  any  other  Presi 
dent  the  sun  ever  shone  upon,  yet  for  the  most  part, 
they  give  very  little  specific  information  anent  the 
"policies." 

Unlike  the  messages  of  ordinary  presidents,  which 
have  only  aimed  at  conveying  their  authors'  policies, 
opinions  and  recommendations  in  matters  govern 
mental,  the  Roosevelt  communications  to  Congress  are 
expansive  and  comprehensive  treatises  of  universal 
knowledge ;  but  when  they  come  to  Handing  out  exact 
information  as  to  "what  the  matter  is  in  America,"  and 
what  Mr.  Roosevelt  thinks  had  better  be  done  about  it, 
these  oracular  messages  are  much  like  a  certain  bill 
which  Mr.  Blythe  says  Dr.  Seth  Low  recently  submit 
ted  for  the  President's  consideration,  and  "which, 
when  you  read  it  one  way,  handed  out  enormous  quan 
tities  of  up-lift  for  the  toiling  masses,  and  when  you 
read  it  another  way,  was  not  without  its  crumbs  of 
comfort  for  the  spoiling  classes." 

This  bill  must  have  found  instant  favor  with  Mr. 
Roosevelt,  who,  as  a  "good  Lord,  good  Devil"  orator, 
is  unsurpassed.  This  Delphic  mode  of  expression  is 
what  his  admirers  call  "being  fair  to  both  sides,"  but 
it  is  sorely  puzzling  to  the  honest  seeker  after  truth 
who  is  trying  to  find  out  "where  Mr.  Roosevelt  is  at." 

On  January  31,  1908,  president  Roosevelt  sent  a 
message  to  Congress,  which  was  a  notable  exception  to 
the  great  mass  of  Rooseveltian  iteration. 


1 88  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

This  message  is  clear-cut,  vigorous  and  manly,  and 
couched  in  such  cogent,  irreproachable  English,  that 
suspicious  persons  detected  the  fine,  Italian  hand  of 
Secretary  Root  in  the  composition  of  it.  But  the  re 
form  note  in  this  message  was  unequivocal.  It  de 
nounced  the  trusts  and  all  their  works,  and  did  not  at 
the  same  time, — as  one  of  the  Roosevelt  delineators 
puts  it — "shake  labor  in  the  other  hand."  But  alas ! 
just  as  the  people  were  settling  comfortably  down  on 
something  really  tangible  and  definite  in  the  shape  of 
Roosevelt  "policies,"  near  two  months  later,  on  March 
25,  Mr.  Roosevelt  sent  another  message  to  Congress, 
which  sounded  much  like  a  "surrender  to  the  trusts, 
in  return  for  their  assistance  in  nominating  Mr.  Taft," 
— and  this  upon  the  deliberate,  open  charge  of  a  Re 
publican  ex-Senator  who  has  some  reputation  as  a 
civic  reformer,  and  was  at  one  time  a  close  friend  of 
Mr.  Roosevelt. 

In  the  June  and  July  numbers  of  Everybody's  Mag 
azine,  Lincoln  Steffins — the  man  who  has  taken  the 
lid  off  of  several  municipal  "hells,"  and  poked  the 
lurid  fires  for  the  entertainment  of  the  public, — gives 
some  interesting  interviews  with  presidential  possi 
bilities  (at  that  time),  Roosevelt-Taft-LaFollette,  and 
Bryan — Jon  Jonson,  as  to  "What  the  Matter  is  in 
America  and  What  to  do  about  it."  One  naturally 
expects  some  illuminating  passages  from  this  source 
as  to  the  political  wisdom  of  T.  Roosevelt;  but  disap 
pointment  meets  us  on  the  threshold.  The  Stefiins 
probing  finger  is  restrained  in  some  mysterious  way 
from  the  Roosevelt  lid.  This  we  are  given  to  under 
stand  at  the  outset,  covers  a  political  and  civic  "Holy 
of  Holies,"  before  which  we  must  stand  with  bared 
heads  and  bated  breath,  as  the  officiating  priest  "the 
Square  Deal"  (all  copyrights  reserved,  T.  R.),  reveals 
to  our  profane  and  wondering  eyes  such  of  the  esoteric, 
Rooseveltian  mysteries  as  seem  safe  and  expedient  for 


ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE        189 

the  common  people, — and  with  this  elucidation  we 
must  fain  be  content. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Steffins,  however,  for  pre 
senting  his  hero  to  us  in  a  brand  new  light,  when  he 
has  him  naively  admitting  "that  he  does  not  know  what 
the  matter  is,  fundamentally;  and  that  he  does  not 
know  what  to  do  about  it,  fundamentally, — he  wishes 
he  did !" 

Such  modesty  from  T.  R.  is  as  surprising  as  it  h 
novel, — and  also  raises  our  hopes.  If  he  is  neither 
able  to  diagnose  the  American  malady,  nor  to  prescribe 
for  it,  there  is  clearly  no  longer  any  excuse  for  giving 
him  charge  of  the  case.  As  a  leader  of  our  national 
destinies,  he  is  disqualified  and  disbarred  by  his  own 
words.  Was  it  this  unwonted  modesty  which  over 
came  him  when  he  reached  the  heroic  height  of  third- 
term  renunciation?  Perhaps.  But  tho'  T.  R.  may  not 
know  what  is  the  fundamental  trouble  in  our  body 
politic,  nor  what  to  do  about  it, — and  we  are  perfectly 
willing  to  take  his  word  for  it — he  always  knows  what 
to  do  on  the  eve  of  a  political  campaign  which  involves 
a  struggle  for  the  spoils. 

He  put  so  many  good  sound  Democratic  doctrines 
into  that  January  message,  that  the  Democratic 
Minority  leader  of  Congress,  with  all  his  Sharpness — 
was  caught  in  the  trap.  For  weeks  he  contributed  to 
Republican  vexation  in  the  House,  and  to  the  gaiety 
of  the  galleries,  by  yanking  these  Democratic  meas 
ures  out  of  the  President's  message  and  inviting  the 
Republican  majority  to  join  with  the  minority  in  pass 
ing  them, — which  of  course  the  Republican  majority 
declined  to  do,  even  as  Roosevelt  knew  they  would. 
And  if  the  majority  were  at  all  disturbed  by  the  fact 
that  they  were  put  in  the  attitude  of  opposing  their 
President's  "policies" — before  the  country — there  was 
no  outward  sign  of  such  embarrassment.  The  only 
thing  in  the  Democratic  filibuster  which  troubled  the 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

majority,  was  the  useless  prolongation  of  the  session 
into  the  hot  weather.  In  the  end,  John  Sharp  was  left 
all  flattened  out  under  the  Elephant's  hoofs — still 
clutching  the  Roosevelt  "policies !"  With  this  net  re 
sult.  The  attention  of  the  whole  country  was  focused 
upon  the  fact  that  the  Roosevelt  recommendations 
were  such  that  Democrats  could  endorse  and  support 
them. 

Now,  then;  with  the  Democracy  putting  its  O.  K. 
on  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  Mr.  Roosevelt  putting  his  O.  K. 
on  Mr.  Taft,  and  Mr.  Taft  sworn  to  carry  out  the 
"policies,"  let  the  befogged  voters  find  the  firing  line 
in  this  campaign,  if  they  can !  There  are  many  men  in 
the  Republic  who  can  make  rings  all  around  Mr. 
Roosevelt  in  the  matter  of  oratory,  literature,  states 
manship,  and  even  as  fighters, — his  particular  boast. 
But  when  it  comes  to  the  skillful  manipulation  of  the 
game  of  "practical"  politics,  T.  Roosevelt  is  like  Uncle 
Remus's  Brer  Rabbit,  "a  leetle  de  soonest  ob  de 
bunch !" 

One  who  has  shown  much  commendable  persever 
ance  in  becoming  familiar  with  the  literary  writings 
of  Roosevelt,  says,  apropos  of  his  accredited  Demo 
cratic  tendencies,  that  "contempt  hardly  expresses  the 
feeling  of  the  Spanish  War  hero  for  Thomas  Jeffer 
son.  .  .  .  There  are  scores  of  references,  direct  and 
indirect,  which  evince  an  intense  and  bitter  hatred  of 
the  man  who  foiled  Hamilton's  plans  for  a  centralized 
government." 

So  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  interpret  Mr.  Roose 
velt's  ideals  of  government,  he  goes  Alxender  Hamil 
ton  one  better,  and  fashions  them  upon  those  of  the 
Kaiser  and  the  Czar.  He  did  not  quite  reach  the  point 
of  ashing  Congress  for  a  Commission  to  take  off  our 
heads,  "within  the  discretion  of  the  President," — but 
that  would  doubtless  have  come  with  the  "third 
term," 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND  FABLE  IQI 


CHAPTER   XV. 

CAESAR  PUTS  BY  THE  CROWN. 

Altho*  the  Constitution  does  not  fix  the  limit  of 
presidential  service  in  the  United  States,  the  prece 
dent  established  by  our  first  President,  and  followed 
by  all  his  successors,  has  made  the  two-term  custom 
and  tradition  as  binding  as  any  written  law;  and  is 
probably  more  respected  by  the  mass  of  the  people 
than  a  great  many  of  the  graven  statutes.  When  Mr. 
Roosevelt  was  elected  Vice-president  in  1900,  he  was 
at  the  same  time  elected  president — in  the  event  of  cer 
tain  untoward  happenings,  which  in  this  case  hap 
pened.  When  therefore  he  was  re-elected  in  1904,  it 
probably  never  occurred  to  anybody  except  himself 
that  he  was  entitled  to  any  more  presidential  runs,  and 
there  was  no  occasion  for  any  lofty  and  resonant  re 
nunciation  of  a  third-term  program,  so  far  as  the  pub 
lic  was  concerned.  Since  a  man  can  only  renounce 
that  which  he  possesses,  or  is  reasonably  sure  of  ob 
taining — and  in  this  case,  it  is  only  a  lively  hope — the 
force  of  this  great  Roosevelt  self-sacrifice  is  not  read 
ily  obvious  to  just  a  plain  every-day  sort  of  person, 
accustomed  to  reason  about  things  in  just  a  plain 
every-day  fashion.  His  election-night  declaration, 
that  he  would  not  again  be  a  candidate  for  the  presi 
dency,  did  not  attract  very  much  attention,  nor  im 
press  anybody  very  deeply  at  the  time,  it  seems, — most 
persons  passing  it  by  as  one  of  the  more  harmless 
manifestations  of  Rooseveltism — until  sometime  af 
terwards,  when  it  became  manifest  that  Mr,  Roosevelt 


192  ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

repented  his  hasty  renunciation  of  a  third-term  ambi 
tion. 

Then  was  inaugurated  that  systematized  effort  by 
all  the  various  press  agencies  in  the  employ  of  Roose 
velt,  to  create  the  impression  that  there  was  a  great 
popular  demand  for  a  continuance  of  Roosevelt  rule. 
This  suggestion,  appearing  here  and  there  in  the  press, 
in  special  articles,  and  in  cartoons,  as  early  as  1906, 
became  more  frequent  in  1907,  and  grew  more  insist 
ent  up  to  the  time  of  the  Chicago  Convention  in  June, 
1908.  Finding  himself  handicapped  both  by  presiden 
tial  precedent  and  his  own  express  declaration,  Mr. 
Roosevelt  found  it  necessary  either  to  declare  for  him 
self  or  for  some  other,  in  order  to  justify  his  activity 
in  strengthening  his  hold  upon  the  "organization,"  so 
that  it  would  still  be  his  to  wield  either  in  the  interest 
of  his  own  candidacy,  or  of  a  candidate  of  his  selec 
tion.  Thus  in  November,  1907,  he  issued  his  famous 
order  to  his  Cabinet  heads,  to  forbid  Federal  office 
holders  who  might  go  to  the  National  Convention  be 
ing  instructed  for  himself,  at  the  same  time  ordering 
them  to  go  uninstructed,  so  that  they  would  still  lie  in 
the  hollow  of  Roosevelt's  hand,  to  be  turned  to  him 
self,  or  to  another,  as  events  might  render  expedient 
or  imperative.  And  so  he  let  it  be  known  through  his 
faithful  cuckoos  that  it  was  his  desire  to  have  Secre 
tary  Taft  as  his  successor.  Still  the  third-term  talk 
kept  up,  in  one  form  or  another,  and  the  President 
when  appealed  to  for  confirmation  or  denial,  took  ref 
uge  in  non-committal  silence  or  "impenetrable  ambig 
uity" — to  quote  Colonel  George  Harvey. 

So  patent  was  it  that  the  President  was  playing  a 
waiting  game  in  the  presidential  nomination,  that  it 
elicited  an  open  rebuke  from  one  of  the  members  of 
our  highest  tribunal.  Justice  Brewer  of  the  U.  S.  Su 
preme  Court,  addressing  the  Civic  Forum  of  New 
York,  Nov.  20,  1907,  in  advocacy  of  a  single  seven- 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE  193 

year  elective  term  for  our  presidents,  said:  "If  that 
were  the  provision,  with  ineligibility  to  re-election,  we 
should  not  now  have  the  spectacle  of  our  strenuous 
President  playing  hide  and  seek  with  the  office." 

Finally  this  intermittent  and  recrudescent  third-term 
talk  for  Roosevelt  caused  such  uneasiness  and  uncer 
tainty  in  the  ranks  of  the  Taft  boomers,  that  they  re 
solved  to  force  Mr.  Roosevelt  to  a  positive,  unequivo 
cal  declaration  of  his  position, — which  they  did.  As 
he  could  not  yet  read  his  fate  in  the  stars,  he  was 
forced  to  reiterate  his  election-night  declaration.  And 
so  the  campaign  for  Mr.  Taft's  nomination  went  mer 
rily  forward,  with  Roosevelt  as  commander-in-chief 
of  all  the  forces  in  the  field.  Federal  officeholders  in 
every  portion  of  the  Union  were  set  to  work  on  the 
Taft  boom,  and  those  keeping  tab  on  the  maneuvering, 
reported  them  all  very  busy.  Where  federal  appoint 
ees  were  found  more  favorable  to  some  other  presi 
dential  aspirant,  they  were  promptly  displaced,  and 
Taft  men  put  in.  President  Roosevelt  had  long  since 
abolished  a  safeguard  which  Grover  Cleveland  had 
imposed  for  the  protection  of  Civil  Service  employees, 
— that  they  should  not  be  dismissed  without  a  charge 
filed  against  them  by  the  head  of  the  Department,  and 
an  opportunity  afforded  them  for  a  reply  to  the 
charge. 

Our  foreign  possessions,  and  our  construction  of 
the  Panama  Canal,  "as  the  President  may  direct,"  had 
opened  up  numberless  opportunities  for  special  ap 
pointments,  and  temporary  appointments  by  the  Presi 
dent,  all  of  which  were  bestowed  as  "spoils"  upon 
those  who  could  serve  the  President's  purposes.  Mr. 
Hitchcock  was  taken  from  the  head  of  the  Post  Office 
Department,  and  made  the  manager  of  the  Taft  cam- 
pagin.  His  knowledge  of  postal  affairs  might  make 
him  as  useful  in  that  capacity  as  Manager  Cortelyou's 
knowledge  of  corporation  affairs  had  made  him* 


194        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

Washington  dispatches  of  March,  1907,  gave  in  detail 
the  story  of  32  postmasters  appointed  in  Ohio  to  help 
Secretary  Taft  control  the  State. 

So  flagrant  and  notorious  was  this  manipulation  oi 
federal  offices  in  the  interest  of  Mr.  Taft's  candi 
dacy,  that  a  writer  in  the  March,  1908,  Arena,  George 
L.  Rees,  emphatically  charges:  "Mr.  Roosevelt  has 
farmed  out  federal  patronage  in  as  shameful  a  man 
ner  as  the  French  Louises  sold  the  tax-collectorships 
to  the  highest  bidders. 

But  in  this  manner,  Mr.  Roosevelt  built  up  a  pow 
erful  "organization,"  which  was  to  be  the  obedient 
creature  of  his  imperious  will  when  the  time  came  to 
use  it.  Then  about  two  or  three  months  before  the 
date  fixed  for  the  Republican  National  Convention, 
sinister  reports  began  to  circulate  anent  Mr.  Taft's 
"inherent  weakness"  as  a  candidate;  and  tho'  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt  was  still  depicted  as  the  ardent,  strenu 
ous  supporter  of  his  heir-apparent,  the  impression  was 
getting  more  and  more  prevalent,  that  the  country 
wanted — not  Taft,  but  Roosevelt ! 

In  the  days  when  he  was  "playing  hide-and-seek" 
with  the  third-term  lure,  President  Roosevelt  was  re 
ported  as  saying,  "if  he  believed  he  could  break  the 
Solid  South,  he  might  be  tempted  to  reconsider  his  de 
termination  not  to  try  again  for  the  presidency,"  and 
whether  this  inspired  John  Temple  Graves'  maudlin 
toast,  or  the  maudlin  toast  inspired  "Teddy's"  wob 
bling  on  the  third-term  proposition,  is  not  recalled  in 
the  exact  order  of  sequence — nor  does  it  matter.  What 
interests  and  impresses  us  is  T.  R.'s  sudden  and  affec 
tionate  solicitude  for  the  Solid  South.  When  he  was 
making  up  his  general  estimates  of  peoples  and  things, 
which  he  has  embalmed  in  his  "literary  works,"  he  had 
observed  that  "through  the  Southern  character  has 
ever  run  a  streak  of  coarse  and  brutal  barbarism." 
Not  content  with  the  ordinary  appellation  of  "traitors," 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

he  had  in  a  Washington  address  referred  to  the  ex- 
Confederates  as  "anarchists" ;  and  he  had  gone  out  of 
his  way  to  be  particularly  offensive  in  his  characteri 
zation  of  Jefferson  Davis, — even  assailing  his  private 
character,  which  at  least  had  escaped  criticism  from 
reputable  Northerners  before  the  time  of  Roosevelt. 

But  now  if  the  "brutal  and  barbarous,  traitorous 
and  anarchistic"  South  will  only  display  a  genial  rift 
in  its  solid  front  for  the  Roosevelt  sun-god,  and 
thereby  afford  him  an  excuse  for  going  back  on  his 
word,  and  attempting  to  overturn  the  third-term  prece 
dent,  the  magnanimous  T.  R.  is  willing  to  forgive  and 
forget — "until  after  election"  anyhow ! 

And  so,  about  a  week  or  two  before  the  Chicago 
meet,  a  pretty  story  appeared  in  one  of  the  Washing 
ton  papers,  written  by  a  Georgian,  describing  a  won 
derful  "Roosevelt  wave"  in  the  Sunny  South;  begin 
ning  in  the  little  town  of  Rossville,  the  home  of  Presi 
dent  Roosevelt's  mother  (by  way  of  lending  a  romantic 
touch),  a  petition  was  circulated,  beseeching  for  four 
years  more  of  Roosevelt,  and  with  incredible  rapidity 
it  grew  and  grew,  until  30,000  Southerners  had  affixed 
their  signatures  to  the  petition! 

The  writer  of  the  story  avowed  himself  wholly  at  a 
loss  to  account  for  the  phenomenon,  averring  it  was 
"unprecedented"  in  the  political  history  of  the  coun 
try.  But  being  from  Georgia,  we  think  he  should 
have  been  able  to  understand  most  any  ovation  to  a 
"Member  of  the  Well-known  Bulloch  Family,"  and  it 
is  likely  the  "signers"  themselves  could  not  have  given 
any  better  explanation  of  their  enthusiasm,  had  they 
been  asked. 

It  was  freely  rumored  in  the  Washington  papers 
that  though  everything  was  in  readiness  for  Mr. 
Taft's  nomination,  there  was  a  strong  likelihood  of  the 
Convention  "stampeding"  for  Roosevelt,  and  dis 
patches  from  Chicago  gave  out  the  thrilling  news  that 


196        ROOSEVELTIAN  FACT  AND  FABLE 

mention  of  the  "stampede"  was  sending  nervous  chills 
up  the  spinal  cords  of  the  Taft  men. 

Then  the  fateful  day  dawned,  and  Washington 
headlines  reported  50  minutes'  cheering  for  the  namt 
of  Roosevelt  in  the  Chicago  Convention! 

After  this,  the  stampede  seemed  imminent,  and  we 
bowed  our  heads  in  Christian  resignation,  and  waited 
for  the  final  rush.  If  30,000  "signers"  in  Georgia  and 
50  minutes'  hand-clapping  in  Chicago  are  not  war 
ranted  to  bring  on  a  stampede,  we  have  no  clue  to  the 
proper  combination,  and  no  advice  worth  offering. 
That  this  combination  should  have  worked,  we  are 
convinced,  because  we  are  reliably  informed  it  was 
expected  to, — but  it  didn't.  The  stampeders  got  all 
balled  up,  for  some  unknown  reason,  and  the  stam 
pede  refused  to  work,  and  went  all  "a-gley" — like  mice 
and  men  and  other  perverse  things.  Instead  of  the 
stampede,  there  was  only  the  steady  crunch,  crunch  of 
the  "steam-roller,"  rolling  over  the  "Allies"  and  seat 
ing  the  Taft  delegations.  And  then  it  was  duly  an 
nounced  that  the  Hon.  William  Howard  Taft,  and  the 
Hon.  James  Schoolcraft  Sherman  would  lead  the  Re 
publican  hosts  to  victory  in  November,  1908. 

And  while  the  New  York  Sun  and  Harper's  Weekly 
were  feeling  contrite  and  mean  over  the  uncharitable 
things  they  had  been  saying  about  T.  R.'s  wishing  to 
take  the  nomination  away  from  Taft;  and  after  the 
New  York  Times  had  declared  editorially  that  T.  R.'s 
resolutely  putting  off  a  crown  like  that,  which  the 
American  people  were  literally  forcing  on  his  head — 
was  one  of  the  most  sublime  acts  of  self-abnegation 
the  world  had  ever  seen, — this  story  was  given  the 
writer,  first-hand,  by  an  active  participant  in  that  Chi 
cago  drama,  one  of  the  wheel-horses  in  the  camp  of 
the  Allies,  who  vouches  for  its  truth :  "On  the  night 
before  the  day  when  the  balloting  was  to  begin,  a 
messenger  came  from  Washington;  a  man  close  to 


ROOSEVELTIAN    FACT   AND   FABLE 

the  President,  an  ex-Senator.  Knowing  my  opposi 
tion  to  Taft,  and  thinking  perhaps  I  might  be  more 
friendly  to  Roosevelt,  he  took  me  aside,  and  said:  'If 
the  Convention  should  stampede  for  Roosevelt,  I  am 
authorized  to  say  he  would  accept.'  I  replied  to  him : 
'My  friend,  the  President  has  reached  this  conclusion 
too  late.  He  has  overplayed  his  Taft  game,  and  in 
my  judgment,  Mr.  Taft  will  be  nominated  to-morrow.' 
And  it  was  so,  but  it  is  probable  that  no  one  of  the 
so-called  Allies  was  more  sore  over  the  result  of  that 
balloting  than  was  Mr.  Roosevelt!" 

And  thus  did  our  Caesar  put  by  the  coveted  crown, 
tho'  like  his  great  Roman  prototype,  with  much  in 
ward  heart-burning,  and  many  a  fond,  lingering  look 
behind. 

And  now  it  is  announced,  as  the  next  thing  on  the 
Rooseveltian  program,  he  is  going  to  Africa,  elephant- 
hunting, — a  most  appropriate  occupation  and  to  work 
off  his  joy  over  Mr.  Taft's  nomination.  It  is  also 
announced  that  he  is  to  write  a  book  about  his  African 
travels,  for  which  an  American  publishing  company — 
completely  overturning  the  traditional  crust-in-a-gar- 
ret  notion  of  the  wages  of  genius — have  offered  him 
a  dollar  a  word!  If  the  book  lambasts  the  wild  living 
creatures  of  Africa  as  mush  as  some  of  his  others  do 
the  dead  statesmen  of  America,  it  will  probably  fur 
nish  very  interesting  reading  matter  for  the  Nature- 
fakirs  ;  otherwise,  and  if  the  publishers  are  depending 
on  the  general  reading  public,  they  are  likely  to  lose 
money  on  their  $i  a  word  investment.  They  are 
doubtless  calculating  on  the  phenomenal  personal  pop 
ularity  of  the  author,  of  which  there  has  been  such 
persistent,  insistent  proclamation  by  the  newspaper 
claquers. 

Without  assuming  to  deny  the  much  exploited 
Roosevelt  popularity,  let  us  submit  it  to  a  little  critical 
dissection,  in  the  instances  wherein  it  has  been  sub- 


ROOSEVELTIAN   FACT   AND   FABLE 

jected  to  a  practical  test.  When  he  ran  for  governor 
of  New  York — as  was  noted  in  another  place — he  re 
ceived  a  bare  17,000  plurality,  which  while  sufficient 
to  make  him  governor,  was  not  a  striking  proof  of 
"overwhelming  personal  popularity"  in  his  own  State, 
numbering  1,500,000  voters.  When  he  was  elected 
President  in  1904, — when  most  of  the  shouting  over 
the  "phenomenal  popularity"  was  pulled  off — an  old 
Republican  resident  of  Washington,  a  man  accus 
tomed  to  keep  tab  on  popular  elections,  and  rarely 
found  tripping  in  his  "riggers,"  estimated  that  the  ex 
cess  of  Roosevelt's  plurality  over  McKinley's,  corre 
sponded  very  closely  to  the  normal  increase  in  the 
Republican  voting  population,  whilst  his  large  plurality 
over  Parker  was  accounted  for  by  the  disgruntled 
Democratic  vote  which  stayed  at  home.  After  the  in 
teresting  revelation  made  by  the  Insurance  investiga 
tion  and  the  Harriman  letters  of  the  Roosevelt-Co  rtel- 
you  campaign  methods,  it  would  seem  his  large  plu 
rality  over  Parker  might  be  accounted  for  in  some 
other  ways  beside  Democratic  disaffection.  Surely,  in 
the  light  of  those  revelations,  no  one  will  claim  that 
the  election  of  1904  carries  convincing  evidence  of 
Theodore  Roosevelt's  "overwhelming  personal  popu 
larity."  It  may  be  as  claimed,  that  he  has  this  "over 
whelming  popularity,"  but  it  may  also  be  claimed  that 
it  has  never  successfully  stood  any  practical  test. 

Perhaps  Fate  was  kinder  to  T.  R.  than  he  knew,  in 
not  permitting  him  to  risk  the  explosion  of  the  "popu- 
lar-idol"conceit  in  this  campaign  year  of  our  Lord,  1908. 
To  conclude  otherwise,  is  to  despair  of  the  love  of 
truth  and  the  sense  of  humor  in  the  American  people. 


LOAN  DEPT. 

book  is  due  on  the  last  dat 


%-^0__ 


LD  2lA-50m-3,'6-> 
(07097slO)476B 


.General  Library 

Uaiversity  of  California 

Berkeley 


